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Being social is no longer just an option, it's fundamental. Networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have proven that people want to know exactly what is happening every single day, every single minute, even if it's merely being kept in the loop that the milk is off or the cat is sick. This constant need for social discussion means nothing can avoid being drafted into the networking line up. Even whilst watching Youtube (which in itself, has become a site for sharing and conversation) most sit through the action already thinking about who would appreciate a forward or link.For businesses, discussion can only be a good thing. These sites can provide a platform on which to shout messages infront of a sell out crowd, which has led to a controversial new trend of 'astroturfing' where companies build up hype about themselves using a variety of forums and groups.
But an interesting article from profy.com adds weight to suggestions that the business world is exploiting networks rather than using them to their advantage. Of course, there are some cases where companies have used the socializing tools to good effect, but is it happening enough? This is a genuine example from earlier this year: In a friendly media office built up of around seven different departments, each department held their own meetings and discussed their own priorities, social discussion took place but rarely business.
One day a group email was sent round asking for any travel tips about an upcoming holiday in Japan from anyone who had previously visited the country; a very sensible piece of research from someone hoping to make the most out of the trip. On the same day the author of the email then set off to an important meeting, without asking for any information or advice on a client who had already met with several different departments in the company. Why is business conversation being ignored? Sharing insight and opinion can be so valuable, but at the moment it seems the potential is being overlooked and we are perhaps, just slightly, too interested in dated milk. For more information on this subject please grab a free download of 'The seven behaviours of high performing sales people To see how socialising can help business performance visit the Artesian Solutions wesbite
Cutting the cost of finding business information on the webA lot of people seem to compare the Internet (specifically search engines like Google and Yahoo) to 'virtual high streets' in which companies jostle for prime positions in the same way as they compete for listing in a search result. But is there life beyond search engines for those of us wanting to glean the commercial value lurking in the millions of web pages we know are out there?
My partner likes analogies so here is an easy one. Let's say for arguments sake you've gone into town looking to spice up the wardrobe with a couple of new shirts. In reality you'd have to spend the day hunting round all the fashion outlets scattered at random throughout the shopping centre. In Google reality, no sooner had you stepped out of the car, all the relevant shops would be right in front of your parking space.
No traipsing around, just hundreds of shirt selling shops conveniently laid out right in front of your very eyes waiting for you to head inside and search around.
As ideal as that image appears it's by no means the perfect scenario because although you'd be surrounded by hundreds of fashion stores waiting to sell you a shirt, you'd still have to potentially spend hours looking for the right one and the search could be very lengthy.
But with automated surveillance technology the virtual world is now the equivalent of a personal shopper, able to quickly search through the clutter and locate exactly what you really want. It is now possible to find the product, not just the source. Without having to even put one foot in front of the other your shopping trip is over, the new shirts are in the bag and you've got more time to focus on other issues, perhaps a new pair of trousers to add to the repertoire.
For more on the subject please download a free copy of 'Taking a Sip From the Firehose'
Webmission Diary: Trips to the Googleplex and other Enterprise Giants
As a skeptical Brit I needed to be convinced this is for real and I am. You cannot help be impressed by the Googleplex. Gourmet food is never less than 100 yards from a Googler, whilst 20% of the working week is spent on idea formulation and innovation. Never have I seen so many happy people going about their work in a company, which seems to have created a workplace employees don’t want to leave at night. The Corporate Visit hosting my fellow WebMissionaries was everything a one hour visit should be – a bit about company culture and history, vision for the future, a look around the campus and then a cheery goodbye.
I forgot that the Google story is as much about tin as it is software. The picture, which is one of their old server racks, demonstrates that a big part of the company’s ‘secret sauce’ is in fact the way they can network computers together in an incredibly low cost way, squeezing 4 CPU’s into a single rack. When the question of energy per search came up there was some shuffling (clearly we need to watch this space as Google figure out how to boost their green credentials.)
Disappointingly there was little mention of the newly launched Google Venture Fund announced last night, which was a surprise as the room was full of some of the UK’s brightest Web 2.0 companies. 
The dinosaur, which founder Larry bought at some auction for the enjoyment of his staff, was apt because the visit which followed illustrated how companies who were once the innovator, quickly become rigid, inflexible and unwieldy as they seek to protect their market leadership. Our presentation was nothing more than an explanation as to how complex this large company has now become to navigate. No mention of future vision, no glimpse of future product, no guided tour. That was a shame…
This week sees the start of WebMission 2009, bringing together the best in new web 2.0 companies. Artesian CEO Andrew Yates provides the inside information with the WebMission diary:So here I am in the city of San Francisco as WebMission rolls into town. Being a Brit and stuck on UK time, predictably the human clock decided to kick in at 5am, which saw me out of bed by six and strolling the front by seven. We are staying at the Harbor Court which is situated in the CDB, or as the Americans call it ‘down town’. Approximately 750,000 residents live on a 46.6-square-mile tip of land between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean and it is not entirely reassuring to find out that the famous Old Ferry Building which I am currently staring at was built upon thousands of Douglas Fir piles roughly 41 metres in depth.
It's Saturday morning and the market traders are setting up their wares so we take a pew outside a small coffee shop to watch the day go by. Instinct tells me to open up my Netbook and explore, to see if there is a Wifi I can hop on. Again, the Brit in me is not optimistic. Imagine my surprise to find out not only does the tiny coffee shop have one which is freely accesible, but every other business in the immediate vicinity does too! BETTER STILL the SF Guest Wifi, which I assume is provided by the city, also prevails which means it doesn't matter who you are, or where you are, access to the web is free.The San Franciscans get it! They understand that connectivity is the precursor to making the web happen. The market is a conversation, the city is a buzz with Twitter, Wifi is your birth right. Not like at home in the UK where the merest dalliance is a £7 expenditure item. Give it away for free, every city should have one. Along on the trip is the right honorable Mark Prisk a knowledgeable Conservative MP with a business background, travelling with us to insure we benefit from his experience. Rest assured ears will be bent. Vie va la WIFI revolution in our cities. Kicks for free is the only way forward otherwise we will get left behind and it turns out Prisk agrees.
Strong opinion on Web 2.0
“They have taken an encyclopaedic definition of meaning, by which, for example, Anyone can call themselves a French speaker if they can use words like Paris or Marseilles, when, of course, actually knowing French is far more complicated”The above quote, aimed at pointing out weaknesses of the semantic web, probably strikes a chord with anyone who has seen an English tourist in a quaint little French bakery ordering, with the most British of tongues, “un jambon sandwich s’il vous plait”. In this case, the argument is quite correct. Knowing a couple of words does not mean you've mastered a language.
Let’s face it, the tourist ordering from the bakery is not kidding anybody. They clearly haven’t been raised in the chateau down the road, they obviously don’t see the beret as the right fashion statement for them and they evidently wouldn’t know that 1974 was a cracking year for Cote Rotie.
But then the objective never was to convince the locals they were French. The objective was to get lunch and therefore, knowing what to say, no matter how simplistic the language, is surely better than going hungry? (Or worse still, ending up with the tripe baguette, that was otherwise destined to remain untouched until its inevitable arrival at the bin outback.)In business terms, this makes the above statement on web 2.0 look rather brutal. It is of course true that saying a French word doesn’t mean you speak French; to understand the language and its many ins and outs would take years of study and dedicated practise. But in the business world that is not always possible, time never appears to be on your side. Sometimes you need to know solid facts fast and to get as much knowledge as possible on any given subject in order to successfully and efficiently execute the job in hand. It’s not always about knowing a company inside out; it’s about knowing what you need to know to achieve your aim. In this sense the semantic web is an exciting concept for almost any industry. It may not be able to teach you French yet, but it can act as the perfect tour guide, enabling you to find the best French attractions, eat at the finest French restaurants and sleep at the comfiest of French hotels. In other words, you may not be a local but you’ll certainly be an expert on everything local.
People are always quick to put down innovative ideas and dismiss them as impossible aspirations (everyone remembers the genius who confidently predicted the world would only ever need six computers) but these people fail to recognise that pioneering initiatives develop with practise. Right now it is surely better to be a tourist in the know, than a tourist lost at the airport. ----------------------------------------Next week - Artesian Solutions’ CEO Andrew Yates will be jetting off to San Francisco for ‘Web Mission 2009’ an event to support the best new web 2.0 companies. Follow his progress with the Web Mission diary.
