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Posts Tagged ‘social capital’

Lessons from Jive World

Posted by Jason Fellman on October 29th, 2009

I’ve been spending last few days at JiveWorld 2009 in San Francisco, and wanted to share some of the recurring themes that have been emerging throughout the conference (Full Disclosure: FG SQUARED is a Jive partner). Although much of the conference addresses Jive SBS features and case studies, I’ve been pretty impressed with the number of real insights being shared by presenters and panelists. Here’s what stood out to me:

Online communities let employees bring their ‘whole selves’ to work.

Typical corporate culture, especially in larger enterprises, doesn’t encourage employees to ‘be themselves’. People often feel like they need to conform to the corporate culture for obvious reasons, and are frequently unwilling to step outside the lines of conventional thinking and doing. But the unique dynamics of online interactions can help reduce social anxiety and allow one to be more authentic. Remember the age old saying, “no risk, no reward”? Well, if people feel more comfortable in their ‘corporate skin’, they are more likely to take chances that can lead to otherwise unrealized innovations or ideas. This is one way to tap underutilized social capital. Note to executives: if you want to take advantage of this, you MUST create and abide by policies and procedures that support authentic behavior. People will not open up if they fear retribution for being different or outspoken.

Pilot projects are the key to developing a successful online community

Creating a pilot project is nothing new where innovation is concerned, but it’s especially important with regards to communities and social media. In many respects, social business applications are perpetual pilots because they evolve so quickly. Ever wonder why Google’s products seem to spend an eternity in beta?

Here’s a little hint: if you want to launch an online community, try positioning it as a pilot. If it’s successful, you won’t even have to sell the next phase because the community will already be up and running. And if it’s not, well…it was just a pilot, right?

The future is integration

If you look at the new Jive SBS 4.0, you’ll notice that many of the features center on the idea of integration. Online communities, like most social business applications, seldom reach full potential in isolation. They need to interoperate with other social networks and tools that users have adopted as part of their digital ecosystem. In the case of Jive, they’ve focused on items such as Microsoft office and Sharepoint integration, social network integration (Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc), and mobile device integration. Good call, guys.

The future is mobile

174 million people will be using mobile devices to access social networks by 2011. Just for perspective, that’s roughly the equivalent of half the population of the United States. So if you are doing something with online communities, it would be wise to start thinking about your mobile strategy. Jive rolled out new mobile functionality, including some nifty iPhone and Blackberry options.

According to one of the presenters, the first generation of mobile Jive is focused more on internal communities. I thought this was interesting because it mirrors what I believe to be a best practice for companies dipping their feet into the community pool for the first time…starting internally, learning the ins and outs, and then moving to external communities once they have a feel for how it all works.

The nature of online metrics are evolving

EVERY conference that deals with social media has at least one presentation or panel dealing with measurement. I’ve even participated as a member of such panels. Experts consistently struggle to answer questions about ROI where social media is concerned…this is in part because every business case is so different, but it’s also because the measurement emphasis is shifting.

Qualitative KPI’s are increasing in value, and quantitative metrics are decreasing in value. This makes bean counters understandably uneasy, but the reality is that social media spans across functional lines. It’s not just about generating leads and closing deals. It’s also about improving brand perceptions, feeding customer insights into the product development lifecycle, increasing customer engagement, improving company culture…the list goes on.

That being said, if you are looking to find some hard numbers to justify your efforts, you may have better luck tying your metrics to cost reduction rather than an increase in sales. This often comes down to correlation vs. causality. For example: because of the complexity of certain sales, it can be prohibitively difficult and/or expensive to demonstrate that the activities of the online community directly lead to a sale. However, it is much more feasible to show a correlation between the two by looking at trends and aggregate data.

So there you have it…a few nuggets from Jiveworld. Does this Jive with your experiences?! (I couldn’t resist)

Tags: Jive Partner, Jive Software, Jiveworld, social capital, social media
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150 Million Measurable Results of Interactive Marketing and Social Media

Posted by Mike Chapman on October 22nd, 2008

By now you’ve read about, and are maybe wondering, how the Obama campaign managed to raise over $150 million in a single month, shattering all previous single-month fundraising records for a Presidential candidate. Their success is, in large part, due to the effectiveness of their interactive marketing efforts in combination with a very aggressive social media presence.

Campaign manager David Plouffe, in an email to supporters, reported the campaign had added 632,000 new donors in September 2008, for a total of 3.1 million contributors to the campaign to date. According to Plouffe, the average donation was $86.

Small Donors in Large Numbers

By creating a user-friendly experience on their outward facing website, the Obama campaign encouraged its supporters to gather in large numbers online and make small contributions. As an alternative to the traditional large dollar donations, bundled and forwarded, the new model broke all previous records set using web 1.0 style fundraising efforts.

It might be tempting to discount the accomplishments of the Obama campaign and give credit to the current political climate instead. That would be a disservice to the interactive marketing success that characterizes what Plouffe and company have built.

The real story behind the enormous dollar amounts started long before September and well before Obama was given much of a chance of being competitive. It centers around an attitude of “bottom-up” empowerment of volunteers, combined with open-minded use of new technologies, generally associated with interactive marketing and social media.

Start Small and Grow

I was first exposed to My.BarackObama.com, or MyBO as it is affectionately referred to among Obama supporters, in late 2007. What I discovered was a highly interactive website that, in many ways, functioned as an online campaign headquarters accessible to anyone interested in participating.

When I later talked with top campaign officials Steve Hildebrand, Deputy Campaign Manager and a former colleague of mine, and Chris Hughes, a cofounder of Facebook who is currently working on the campaign, they confirmed that their intent was to create as much of a working connection between campaign staff and volunteers as possible by using the website as an interface.

The Obama campaign is a textbook example of the development of that connection between their own staff with volunteers, donors and ultimately voters. This real world case study of using the social capital developed though 2.0 connections is of great interest to us at FG SQUARED.

According to Hildebrand and Hughes, the beginning of the planning process focused on concepts inherent in a well positioned social media effort. Authenticity, transparency and adding value were all considered as crucial during early development of their plans.

Online Efforts Compliment Traditional Organization

With every aspect of the website, a consideration was given to how the “on-the-ground” campaign would be enhanced. Not only does the website serve as a tremendous supplement to the fundraising efforts, it has served as a community organizational tool and and central information desk for a wide range of activities.

More than 150,000 meetups and other events have been coordinated using MyBO. Anyone can start a blog. Those who have a blog are free to post their feelings even if they are in opposition to Barack Obama on a particular issue. You can find groups and people in your area to meet and organize with.You can start one of your own if none of the previously formed affinity groups pique your interest.

During the caucus states, in particular, the website served as a virtual campaign office, with fully equipped phone bank capabilities, block walking lists and communications tools. There is much evidence that MyBO played a direct role in the organizational successes of Iowa and the caucuses in Texas and get out the vote operations (GOTV) throughout the primaries.

While the groups have been allowed to proliferate within MyBO, a wide variety of social media and networking tools are encouraged and intermixed with other popular sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, FlickR and YouTube. In all instances the ease of use and the draw of participation increased the number of times individuals visited and used MyBO.

Personalization Is Standard

Through MyBO you can sign up for text messages on your phone or other handheld device. If you want, you can get regular emails from a variety of campaign officials. You can make calls, from your own home, to battleground states. A team is available to receive comments on improving the site and do so, almost in real time, when it’ll make it work better for users.

At every turn, and with every other activity, an opportunity to make a donation is always very professionally presented. Often, a specific and small amount, a micro-donation, is given as a first option. While you can sign up for a regular contribution schedule, there is no pressure to do so.

With a steady contribution from volunteers and a very 2.0 oriented campaign staff, there is always a steady flow of new and interesting content on the site and surrounding it. The campaign neither reached out to the well known bloggers or ignored them. They just did their thing.

Metrics That Are Tangible

With metrics now available, MyBO can be definitely considered a social web 2.0 success story. American politics have been changed by the successful combination of traditional campaigning with the new interactive components.

Metrics in politics are pretty straightforward. First, you need money. Money pays staff, money buys paid media, and money hires lawyers to fight legal battles. Money pays for travel and wardrobes.

Another key metric is media coverage. The new and increasingly important digital and social media coverage of campaigns supplements and influences mainstream media. Money and media coverage have been greatly impacted by MyBO.

Finally, the most important metric is voter participation.

Managing the Message

MyBO, and the other social media tools, have added to the transparency of a the campaign. It’s easier for users to know where the campaign currently stands and what it’s doing in every state, district and territory. Everyone is an expert. Everyone has access to the materials.

Barack Obama, and his top level advisors, lead the effort. They set the agenda and create the message. But throughout the organization even the most remote volunteer is included, almost instantly, when the agenda and messages are established and communicated to the grassroots and netroots.

Internal communications are utilized by the campaign’s high command to coordinate all of the outward facing activities of the campaign. For corporations and large non-profits it’s critical to consider whether you can afford to wait before your competition adopts the MyBO model.

When Josh Bernoff, co-author of Groundswell, was in Austin he commented that MyBO incorporates every positve aspect of social media except for listening. Perhaps they will improve even that if the Obama team gets the opportunity to govern. Government 2.0 anyone?

Tags: facebook, interactive, metrics, social capital, social networking, twittering
Posted in Squared Root | 2 Comments »

Blog Action Day 2008 ‘Poverty’

Posted by Mike Chapman on October 12th, 2008

Austin, Texas is a very prosperous city. We are the capital of a state that is rich in resources and opportunity. A state that is doing very well economically, even in difficult times.

Our city is the creative capital of the country, according to the book Rise of the Creative Class. Yet, approximately twenty percent of our citizens live in what are considered poverty conditions.

In the county surrounding Austin, approximately 200,000 residents are classified as “working poor” by the Texas Department of Human Services. TDHS also estimates that 41,000 children, under the age of 18, are confronted with food insecurity every day.

Because of the natural beauty, economic growth, and numerous success stories happening every day in Austin, it’s easy to forget about or not notice those who are not as fortunate living among us.

In conjunction with the international Blog Action Day on Poverty, scheduled for October 15th, a number of bloggers, podcasters and videocasters here in Austin will devote 24 hours to capturing the face of poverty in our city.

We will be focusing on the personal stories and facts of the people living in poverty in Austin.

A group of us will also be involved in a 24-hour street retreat immersion effort, delivering updates by Twitter, short video and audio segments, and a series of webinars.

We hope to use the power of social media for social good and engage our respective online communities in this effort. Our goal is to include our friends, followers and online contacts in a real-life look at what it means to live in poverty in Austin today.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes and the Capital Area Food Bank have provided a leadership role in identifying several objectives for Blog Action Day in Austin:

1) Raise community awareness of the personal aspects of living in poverty in our hometown.

2) Communicate a unified call-to-action across a variety of organizations working with poverty in Austin, spotlighting specific ways to face poverty in Austin.

3) Engage the broader Austin community in how to respond to these stories, harnessing our city’s unique imagination & creativity.

We need your help to make this happen:

1) Sign up to blog for at least one hour during Blog Action Day: http://www.doodle.ch/participation.html?pollId=kyawmrma58rxup99

2) Consider joining us for some or all of the street retreat immersion effort. If you want more info or want to be involved, email bob.carlton@gmail.com or comment below.

3) Expand the network for this effort. Forward this post to at least 10 friends in Austin who might want to join us.

Our neighbors who live in poverty conditions are real people. They have stories to share but their voices are often not heard. You can be a conduit for sharing their stories and giving them a voice.

Please join FG SQUARED in support of Blog Action Day 2008 to address poverty in Austin and around the world.

Tags: austin, blogs, poverty, social capital, social media
Posted in Squared Root | 5 Comments »

The New Traditions

Posted by Mike Chapman on October 8th, 2008

While new media, social networking, and other forms of digital communications are seen by many as major change, they are also part of a movement to insert traditional values into the public conversation.

Authenticity, transparency and behaving appropriately in public, are core principles of a new way of conducting business. Being who we really are and openly representing ourselves and our companies in an honest manner are necessary in a world where everyone can ‘fact check’ and broadcast their findings instantly.

Most of us have learned very well to block out what we intuitively believe to be fake or misleading information on television and from other forms of mainstream media. We have finely tuned truthiness detectors when it comes to what we’re being asked to believe.

Listening before sharing your own point of view, and adding value to a conversation when you participate, are additional examples of social media principles that also just happen to be good strategy.

Advertising and marketing tactics that simply push a message are not working as well as they once did. That’s especially true online. Consumers, voters, and others in a decision making mode, look for alternative sources to listen to, ask questions of, and consider when making their choices.

Large institutions are especially not trusted today. The current economic crisis is further enforcing the common belief that we are being misled on a regular basis by ’spin doctors’ and clever wordsmiths at the highest levels.

Listening and adding value follow these very same principles. They require actual participation in a conversation, not a superficial attempt at selling or convincing. Some companies, like Dell, are demonstrating how large institutions can effectively listen and personally respond to what their customers are saying.

Adding value to a conversation can be characterized as doing the opposite of spamming, or astroturfing. Some prominent PR firms have found out the hard way that sending interns out to blindly comment on blogs with a large readership is not effective. In fact, a blacklist of such firms made its way around the blogosphere with much fanfare last year.

These new/old ways of conducting business are having an impact. Social media is not curing all that ails business. But it is providing an example of how you can conduct yourself online and have a positive impact on your reputation, build social capital – a key concept at FG SQUARED – and potentially help yourself and your cause in the process.

This past week I attended the Austin Social Media Breakfast. Recent Boston transplant Bryan Person has brought a tradition to Central Texas he was instrumental in starting back east.

The guest speaker was Peter Kim. Peter was great at getting us to think critically about all these topics and more. His premise that ‘everything old is new’ resonated with me. The group discussion continued to go back to the core principles of authenticity, transparency and adding value.

Fundamentally, social media and social networking are about people. Their infiltration into traditional marketing and communications, and so many other components of the workplace and home, have been viewed as technological innovations. While that’s true, it’s really the spirit behind the technology that is most profound.

After decades of feeling talked down to by large institutions, and manipulated by clever advertising and public relations campaigns, today’s consumers have taken things into their own hands. They are establishing their own rules of conduct within their online communities.

Many of these new rules very closely resemble what our grandparents might have considered old-fashioned good manners.

Photo Credit

Tags: social capital
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Brand Awareness

Posted by Mike Chapman on October 3rd, 2008

I am a big fan of business management expert Tom Peters.

Long before the current emphasis on social media, and the individuality in branding it provides us online, Peters was evangelizing that we should passionately be in pursuit of developing our own brand. We should engage in disruptive behavior, break out of the cubicle, and enjoy work again.

Peters has been warning for decades that massive changes were coming to large corporations and to the workers that comprise them. Talented professionals no longer should be dependent on the sponsoring companies for an income. Professional service organizations, PSOs, can perform many of the same functions at lower costs and with better results.

The percentage of workers who will spend an entire career with one company is dramatically lower. Career mobility is an accepted lifestyle choice and job security has been exposed as a myth. Loyalty to an employer is a two-way proposition and is not assumed. Tom Peters not only predicted these trends, he passionately advocates for them.

It should seem obvious that smart companies would look for ways to get out ahead of the new trends, including those made possible and preferable by the new world of 2.0 technologies. To do so would empower their employees, make their jobs more interesting, and encourage them to stick around, and thereby making their companies more competitive.

So it was notable, if not surprising, last week when Susan Scrupski, nGenera’s research guru, offered this commentary on where many large enterprises actually are today:

“we find that social, emergent behavior can be viewed as dissent in large enterprises. In the enterprise space, we find the major barrier to adoption of 2.0 ideologies is culture. Even if there is a groundswell of support to embrace social media, corporate cultures can run counter to its actual widespread acceptance. Marketers in large companies are more inclined to recognize the benefits of building relationships via social media sooner, but they run into roadblocks from other, more conservative, areas of the business. It’s a huge challenge for some large brands.”

At least one very large corporation is leaning into the trends and taking steps to allow employee empowerment on a large scale.

Recently the Social Media Club of Austin met on the IBM Austin campus with Chris Almond, IBM Redbooks Project Leader. He shared some of the innovations in social computing taking place at IBM.

He stressed that IBM has developed specific guidelines for using blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds and social media, and is allowing their integration into the workplace. With IBM stock doing well, they are not making these moves under pressure, but instead to stay current.

Chris didn’t give away any company secrets, but he did give us some real insights into steps being taken within the firewall at IBM to tap into their own employee talent pool. By allowing the creation of innovation networks and collaboration between different areas of the corporation, employees are able to take advantage of the newest tools.

They’re also considering ways to tap into the social capital they have with the many retirees of IBM using social media and other forms of social computing.

Qualified, former IBM employees might find it satisfying to work on a project from time to time. They already have a vested interest in the continued success of IBM, as pension plan participants, and they could enjoy the work knowing they were not going to be permanently back on the payroll.

By establishing clear guidelines and setting expectations from the beginning, and by accepting and embracing the changes occurring outside the firewall, a large company can adjust into the “groundswell.”

Bottom line considerations will always be bottom line. Proprietary information is still proprietary. Employees and, in this case, former employees are empowered. Managed disruption occurs from within and for the benefit of the corporation.

Chris Almond is definitely a brand unto himself. Chris is also a valued employee of IBM. Other large enterprises – and those not so large – would be wise to learn from his example. Chris says he’s very happy at IBM.

Please read the social computing guidelines being used by IBM and comment below on them or anything else I’ve written. You don’t have to agree with me. In fact, critical thinking is encouraged.

Tags: blogs, business, commerce, metrics, profitability, social capital, social commerce, social media, social networking
Posted in Squared Root | 3 Comments »

The Communications Revolution

Posted by Mike Chapman on September 26th, 2008

I have sometimes characterized social media as a revolution in communications. While that may be a bit of hyperbole, social media and online social networking are certainly providing a multitude of new opportunities for two-way and multi-directional forms of communications.

These often disruptive and sometimes less than polished online conversations, form the basis of the Groundswell occurring on and around the internet. Marketing, advertising, and all forms of media, including customer and public relations, have been profoundly impacted.

Despite the feeling of newness, however, the basic characteristics of social media are at least as old as the United States. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, written in 1776, encapsulated the concepts of the American Revolution in an unorthodox form for its time and was circulated in a purposefully disruptive manner among the American colonists.

The pamphlet served as a call to arms against the King of England’s tyrannical rule and offered an alternative approach for self-governing. The ideas in the pamphlet weren’t completely original, but the simplicity of the language used was out of the ordinary.

Paine’s more casual style of writing was more suitable to the kind of democratic society he and others envisioned. Complex ideas were made intelligible to the average reader in contrast to the more formal style favored by institutions of power. That sounds similar to the authenticity and transparency which are also the hallmarks of modern social media.

Finally, Paine’s willingness to openly confront King George III, on the record for all of his fellow colonists to read, was very uncharacteristic among colonists who feared the wrath of the King. His willingness to voice his opinions in the open, and in understandable language, was instrumental in initiating a public debate about independence.

Common Sense Communications Today

Compare Paine’s revolutionary pamphlet to what’s going on in communications today. Because of the many options that have been created by new technologies, each of us has the opportunity to engage in conversations with other people who share our interests and in a language that can be understood by those involved.

Consequently, proactive companies are instituting new strategies that anticipate the sweeping changes in communications and self-organizing occurring around the internet. Not only can a business or not-for-profit organization get out in front of potential negative communications coming from their various constituencies, they can effectively convert them into brand loyalists with sincere attempts at developing genuine relationships with them

By acknowledging them as being important and then communicating openly with them, it’s possible for corporations to foster good will and enhance the organization’s social capital among its customers. It’s not only possible; it’s happening.

There are profound opportunities for large organizations, including corporations, to empower their employees in this new environment by opening new channels of communications to the communities outside of the company. This very natural form of social capital is nothing short of revolutionary. Well, it’s certainly a move in the right direction.

Additionally, through effective implementation of an internal communication system, such as an intranet, employees can be empowered to be excellent advocates for their company. With clear internal guidelines in place, an intranet can provide a platform for coordinating teams of goodwill ambassadors who can be available to reach out into the groundswell. I’ll write more about how FG Squared is taking the lead in this direction in a future post.

It’s a little too late for King George III to learn about the benefits of listening. It might be, however, the perfect time for you and your business to start.

Tags: business, clients, social capital, social commerce, social media, social networking, technology, word of mouth
Posted in Squared Root | 4 Comments »

Power Networking

Posted by Mike Chapman on September 19th, 2008

The Presidential campaign of 2008 has forever changed the way politics will be conducted in the United States. The current campaigns being waged for the White House are good predictors of the massive changes also coming for businesses, non-profits and other organizations. The use of online social networks, social media, and social commerce to organize, communicate, raise money, and ultimately affect the electoral process, have been so disruptive and effective they will never be absent from any major campaign again.

Without getting into a critique of any of the candidates or their campaign efforts, it’s safe to say that most political prognosticators would not have predicted the current match-up between U.S. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain going into November. Through effective use of social networks – including the one his campaign created for itself – to rapidly establish a national presence and a serious fundraising operation, Barack Obama came out of nowhere to defeat a field of formidable opponents and win the Democratic nomination. As proof of concept, John McCain, the Republican nominee, is aggressively working to replicate Obama’s online successes in his own effort to leave nothing to chance in this extremely competitive contest.

MyBarackObama.com and McCainSpace.com, the respective online communities for the two candidates, and their extensive interactivity with other social networks, are clear evidence of a developing online reality in politics, business, and every other aspect of our daily lives.

Social networks themselves are nothing new to politicians. Utilizing social capital for the benefit of a candidacy or a cause is standard operating procedure. The Clinton and the Bush families have extensive supporter lists that have been cultivated over decades and which were key to their political successes. What’s new this cycle has been the ability to very rapidly grow a social network using online technologies and for them to be extremely effective in supplementing traditional campaign strategies and tactics.

How does any of this apply to the rest of us? The Obama campaign has proven the benefits of using online social networking, social commerce and social media tools to enhance traditional marketing and communications effort along with other key functions of an enterprise. McCain is hoping to do the same. Regardless of the outcome of the election, campaigns will never be conducted without a serious effort to utilize from online social networks to supplement traditional on-the-ground efforts.They can’t afford not to. The same principle applies to every enterprise dealing with human beings and who might have any interaction with online social networks.

If your business or organization intends to be competitive going forward, you cannot afford to ignore the lessons of the current election campaign. If you have no competition, then you can continue to do things the way they have always been done. That is, of course, until someone with an online strategy decides to announce against you. Good luck catching up with them after that happens.

Tags: business, interactive marketing, politics, social capital, social commerce, social media, social networking
Posted in Squared Root | 3 Comments »

Social Capital and the Value of Relationships

Posted by Mike Chapman on September 5th, 2008

The first time I was “poked” on Facebook, I wasn’t sure if I should be offended or flattered. That was, of course, before I had been super poked. If you’re one of the more than 100 million users of Facebook you realize that I’m just poking fun at the popular social networking site’s method for getting people to interact with each other online. It’s sort of like a conversational icebreaker for people who haven’t become fluent yet in the customs and languages of Facebook and its particular brand of social networking.

Facebook is now just one leading example of an ever growing phenomenon of online relationship creation that is forever changing the way we communicate, network, and conduct our personal and professional lives. I personally have profiles on more than a few dozen social networking sites but the average user of social media is very likely to be content with much fewer and to still be considered a very active user of social media and social commerce.

In our natural desire to connect with other humans, we are busily creating links to and through our friends, our family and coworkers, which then exponentially expand our own reach and create a new world of opportunities in the process. The six degrees of separation between all humans has been reduced to three according to a recent study by O2, a French company. We are all closer to actually knowing Kevin Bacon in person than ever before.

Digital natives, people who grew up using interactive internet tools, already combine the online social networking sites and social media with their everyday activities including their professional lives. Those of us who are digital immigrants are also incorporating interactive tools into our daily activities at varying rates and with varying degrees of comfort. It is apparent, however, that this groundswell of activity on the internet, as it is identified in the book by same name, is an irreversible reality.

Naturally, this blending of personal and professional relationship building and networking is connecting us in ways we will struggle to understand. Many businesses are anxious to dive in and be active participants in social media and social commerce but need to find quantifiable and meaningful ways to measure the impact on their business models. The FG Squared team is working on ways to show the real benefits and value of social networks in and around the enterprise.

One approach a business could take in dealing with social networking is to consider it a distraction or problem and attempt to make it difficult for its employees to maintain contacts with their friends and followers during the work day. By banning Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other popular sites from business owned computers, some businesses have attempted to curb perceived losses in productivity. It should be obvious by now that employees can still use their iPhones and Blackberrys to stay connected to their networks, maybe even secretly doing so. Even if that’s not obvious I contend it’s still a bad idea. Businesses should instead consider the value of the social capital created by their employees through their online social networks. Remember, Kevin Bacon is only a few degrees of separation away from being a potential client.

Humans are relational beings. We naturally desire to connect with each other. We seek communities that share our values, beliefs and interests. The online networking that occurs through Facebook and other social networking sites can provide opportunites for communications and, yes, commerce that shouldn’t be ignored or avoided out of fear of the unknown.

Steve Golab of FG Squared will be presenting some thoughts next week to the Houston Interactive Marketing Association on exactly how we can measure the social capital in the enterprise created by the groundswell of connections on the internet. I hope to extend that conversation to the Squared Root so that that we can generate an ongoing discussion around the topic.

You can find more information on the HiMA conference scheduled for September 18th at http://www.houstonima.org/

Tags: facebook, social capital, social commerce, social media
Posted in Squared Root | 5 Comments »

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