Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms

Why E-Commerce Still Isn’t Easy To Do

Recognizing the difference of the Internet is key to online sales success

Doing business over the Internet, whether B2C or B2B, is not the same as the traditional pre-Internet methods.   I’m sure the typical response to this is “well, duh!”  That simple statement is taken as a given by most people.

Amazingly there are still people and businesses that haven’t grasped this seemingly simple concept.  The most recent example was when I ordered a meal to be delivered to my workplace for a late meeting.  I dutifully collected everyone’s selection, went to the website and entered my account information along with the credit card details.

The Hidden Price Of Free Applications

Access to our personal data is the price we pay for ''free'' services on the Internet.

Privacy issues, the Internet and social media in particular have been getting a lot of attention lately. Facebook has become the poster child for privacy concerns about the data we divulge online.

The villain in all of this isn't the technology, since technology isn't inherently good or evil. The issue is how technology is used. That is driven by the business model of the Internet and social media.

Google, Yahoo, Facebook and others of their type provide so-called "free" services. These companies are funded through advertising. Twitter has been the most notable holdout on monetizing its services, but that won't last forever.

Is Social Media a Fad?

I attended the Texas Technology Summit yesterday and one of the speakers was David Guthrie, CTO of PGi.  David gave a great presentation on "IT Innovations: What is the Future?"

He included the following YouTube video in the presentation which is rather thought provoking.  With over 1.7 million viewer to date the may be old news but I thought it very worthwhile especially in light of my post from yesterday on "Your Online Reputation Matters".

Your Online Reputation Matters

A positive online reputation is important for both individuals and companies

We've all heard the stories of Joe, a job candidate who was a shoo-in to get that great job until the hiring manager decided to take a look at the candidate's Facebook page. Suddenly some photos of a wild party and comments that his hobby is getting wasted every weekend scuttled Joe's prospects. Joe doesn't get the job and has no clue about why he seems to be so unlucky.

Our online reputation matters. We know this anecdotally, from what we've seen and done as hiring managers, and now there is some data to support this. In January Microsoft published survey results of how our online reputations affect our job prospects. Three-quarters of U.S. survey respondents said their companies have formal policies that require hiring personnel to research applicants online; 70% of hiring personnel rejected candidates based on data found online.

As people become more aware of this, I've seen a number of articles about managing your so-called "digital dirt" and a simple internet search turns up many more. I've even heard that this has spawned a new industry where companies will help you clean it up. Rather than rehash all of the tips on how to clean up your online reputation, I'd like to address two other aspects.

CIOs: Stop Ignoring Social Media

CIOs and IT leaders need to promote social media or risk becoming marginalized.

I recently attended a panel discussion of four CIOs put on by a major IT research firm and found the exchange on social media interesting. In addition to the CIO of the research firm, there was representation by both the private and public sector.

The moderator asked if the panelists allowed open access to social media sites and if they had a policy in place governing the use of social media. I was pleased to hear all of the panelists respond "yes" to both.

Is Twitter Dying? - An Update

Recent Media Reports Highlight Decline of Twitter

A couple of media reports regarding Twitter caught my attention due in large part since they raise some of the same issues I have raised in earlier posts.  Mainstream media CNN has an article "Has Twitter Peaked?" while the IT trade magazine Computerworld has an article "Twitter now has 75M users; most asleep at the mouse".  Both discuss the growth of Twitter but also the large number of people that try it and drop it.

I raised the same issues in June, 2009 with "Twitter's Dilemma" and again in December with "The Death of Social Media" (which discussed social media in general including Twitter).  It's interesting to see I'm not alone in wondering if Twitter is on the decline and perhaps the founders have squandered an opportunity to monetize their creation.

The Death of Social Media

Are spam, hackers, privacy concerns and commercialization killing social media?

Social media comes in many forms and flavors with new types coming in and some older ones slowly dying out. It has become so ubiquitous that we rarely think about it when we use it.

I primarily use Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn, in addition to my blogging, but I have become less and less enamored with social media over time. Although I was never a rabid user of Twitter, I did initially use it on a regular basis but now will frequently go days between tweets or without even looking at it.

Crowdsourcing For Prize Money

Applying Internet Technologies Creatively Can Generate Big Rewards

This past weekend DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) announced the winner of the Network Challenge ''to explore how broad-scope problems can be tackled using social networking tools,'' to mark the 40th anniversary of the ARPANet, pre-cursor to today’s Internet.

This was a great way to celebrate the anniversary as well as DARPA’s connection to the birth of the Internet. The winning team used social networking and demonstrated other concepts that take advantage of the power of the Internet. Oh, and team went home with a $40,000 prize.

CIO.com Interview

A few days ago Kristin Burnham with CIO.com published an interview with me for her article, Expand Your Brand.  In this article, Burnham also interviewed Kirsten Dixon, online reputation management expert and coauthor of Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand along with Chris Curran(@cbcurran on Twitter), CTO and partner at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants and creator of the "CIO Twitter Dashboard" and me on the use of social media.  As Burnham states, "The benefits of social media outweigh the downsides. It's time for CIOs to reach out."

Blogs are dead (or, are dying). Or are they?

My friend Jason Alba who owns JibberJobber (by the way a great career management tool) recently sent out a newsletter and asked the question "…let me know what you think about the following phrase: "Blogs are dead (or, are dying)."  Could blogs become obsolete?  On one side people say that Twitter and such will make them obsolete... on the other side there are too many blogs, and many of them plain junk. What do YOU, as a blogger, think?"

A great question and one I couldn't help but comment on. In one sense, I do think blogs are dying but in the same sense all other forms of communicating ideas are "dying".  Let me explain my reasoning.