The Power of Connecting People
Sep 28, 2008 Uncategorized
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Vint Cert, on the Official Google Blog, wrote about The Next Internet. There are a number of interesting points in the article, and really, I have to say that the future looks like it’s going to be really interesting - with the Internet growing as fast as it is.
That said, there is one point I disagree with him about.
The flexibility we have seen in the Internet is a consequence of one simple observation: the Internet is essentially a software artifact. As we have learned in the past several decades, software is an endless frontier. There is no limit to what can be programmed. If we can imagine it, there’s a good chance it can be programmed.
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I don’t fully agree with that point.
I think the real power and flexibility of the Internet isn’t the programming - it’s the people. It’s the way that the Internet connects people together. And when you connect people together, amazing things can be done.
As an example, take what Melanie Baker wrote in a comment on one of my previous posts: “To date the best way [of finding unique and lesser known gems online] I’ve seen is still to have a great network of smart and curious people and remain tied into to their word of mouth.” Can software replicate that? I’m not fully convinced yet.
That’s my personal belief and opinion, anyway. The real power of the Internet is not the programming - it’s the people. Yes, the programming has come really far, tools that do amazing things have been developed. But at the end of the day, what’s most important is the people and the connections being built around it.
That’s the true power of the Internet, and what makes it truly and endless frontier. When you connect people together, anything is possible.
[?]Small Mistakes
Sep 28, 2008 Random
There’s been a lot of controversy over whether McCain cussed during the debate last night. I’m not fully sure about it, but that’s not the point.
Here’s what I want to ask. How many of you noticed it when watching the live debate? I, for one, didn’t. I didn’t even notice it at all until reading about it online.
And that’s the thing about the web today. Practically everything is - or can be - documented online. And once it’s online, it’s there forever, and it can be re-read and analyzed over and over.
Any mistake, any small slip, now has the potential to be magnified to a much greater extent. We can no longer hide and hope that nobody sees our mistakes. Chances are, any mistakes we make will be discovered.
What can we do? 2 things. Firstly, be careful about what we say and do - as individuals, as brands, as companies. And secondly, when we slip up (we are all human after all), work on the response. That’s more important than ever now - how you respond when called on your mistake.
Because you can be sure that someone, somewhere, will definitely call you on it.
How do you respond to mistakes?
Tags: Barack Obama, debate, John McCain, mistakes, web
There’s No Such Thing As Bad Press
Sep 26, 2008 Random
Brad Shorr from Word Sell, Inc shares six reasons why business blogs should welcome negative comments.
All are really good reasons, but here’s one that I want to point out specially.
Fifth, negative comments in and of themselves are unlikely in and of themselves to drive business away. Other readers are more interested in your response to a negative comment than the comment itself. For example, the comment “How come your sales rep never calls on me?!$*” by itself doesn’t look good. However, if you respond with, “We are extremely sorry about that. It is never our intention to ignore any customer. You will be hearing from your rep this afternoon, and we hope it’s not too late to rebuild our relationship,” you may find yourself actually attracting new business and turning indifferent customers into evangelists. Of, you could choose not to blog, and risk having customer tell twenty of his friends how unresponsive you are.
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Bad comments are not just bad comments - they are opportunities for you to respond and build new relationships.
In today’s world, you can monitor and track whatever is said anywhere. And as such, I think that Brad’s point can be applied to anything that’s said about you, not just comments on your blog.
As long as people are talking about you, it can work in your favor. Even if it’s bad, it’s a chance for you to jump in and contribute to the conversation. It’s a chance for you to correct any mistakes - be it on the report’s end or on your end. It’s a chance for you to build new connections.
There’s no such thing as bad press, just opportunities to respond.
How do you respond to the negative things that are said about you?
Tags: blog, Comment, Conversation, opportunity, Respond
“There is no reason, in 2008, to do shit you hate.”
Sep 24, 2008 Personal Development, personal branding
So says Gary Vaynerchuk, and I couldn’t agree more.
There’s really nothing much I can add to what he says. If you haven’t already, you really should watch it - it’s more than worth the 15 minutes.
[?]Tags: gary vaynerchuk, passion, personal brand, web 2.0 expo
Filtering Without Getting Trapped in the Fishbowl
Sep 24, 2008 Technology, blogging
I’ve just installed AideRSS into my Google Reader a few days ago. It’s an interesting plugin, but using it raised a couple of questions for me - that of staying above the noise.
In today’s world of the web, authority tends to be measured based on how many people link to something. Your Google ranking or Technorati authority is essentially based on the number of people who link to your website. I’m not sure how the AideRSS rankings work, but I assume it’s based on how many people read a post and things like that?
While I understand the need for an authorty system, and I understand why it’s done this way, it’s not a perfect system. As people start using these systems as filters, the higher you rank, the more likely your rank will increase. It’s sort of like an issue of “the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer”.
And this makes it even easier to get trapped in the fishbowl - to get trapped just reading what everyone else is reading. In doing so, it gets easier to get trapped writing similar things to everyone else - to get stuck on the same topics, similar viewpoints, etc.
Here’s my question. I understand why a filtering system is needed, there’s just too much noise and all to manage everything.
So how do you manage the filtering system while not getting trapped in the fishbowl?
How do you filter the information you read without getting stuck in reading and writing the same topics as everyone else?
How do you filter what you read - and still maintain originality and come up with something new?
Thinking About the Blog Experience
Sep 22, 2008 blogging
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the whole experience of blogging and reading blogs. In general, I would think that most people just read blogs, maybe leave a comment, then move on. We’ve all heard that blogs are a conversation, but are they really? Yes, conversation can happen on blogs, but is the platform really the best for conversation? I have my doubts.
So, here’s what’s been on my mind. How would you make your blog more interactive? Not gimmick-interactive, but really interactive, the kind of interaction that builds relationships and community and dialog. I’d say it goes all the way into the fundamental blog experience, and redefining (or tweaking) that experience slightly.
One thing that’s on my mind, for example, is comments. Currently, comments are practically always on the bottom of a post. It’s almost like a footnote/appendix. Why not have comments more as “notes in the margin” instead? Maybe have a side margin (like another sidebar, that can be toggled on/off), where the comments run alongside the post, so that comments can be more ‘in context’ - you can comment specifically on a certain paragraph, for example, and people can see that comment at the same time as while they read the paragraph. There are probably technical details to consider, but that’s just one idea that’s been on my mind, and I think it could help provide more flow to conversations on a blog.
Or why not have an easy way for other bloggers to embed your post or part of it? Something sort of like Clipmarks, but a functionality provided by the blog itself, so that people without the Firefox plugin can also embed it.
What do you think? Are there ways which we can redefine the fundamental blog experience to really make it more interactive and easier for conversation? Or ways to make it more of an experience, something more immersive, rather than just something people read for a minute and leave?
Or do you think that it doesn’t matter and that blogs are fine as they are? Whatever it is, I’d love to hear your opinions.
*note: This post is cross-posted (with slight modifications) from the discussion I started on Seth Godin’s Triiibes Network
Tags: blog, Comment, Conversation
In Memory of Brian Clough
Image via Wikipedia
Today marks the fourth anniversary of Brian Clough’s passing.
Mr Clough, as he liked to be called, was one of the best managers that England has seen. He brough two different teams up from the Second Division to win the First Division. He won the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest.
He had very unique methods, and methods that not everyone agreed with. But his success is undeniable, and we can all learn something from him. Here are 3.
For one, he had unshakeable confidence in himself. He’s said things such as “I certainly wouldn’t say I’m the best manager in the business, but I’m in the top one.” He knew he was a good manager, and he wasn’t afraid to say it. He wasn’t just talk, he backed up his talk with his successes, but he wasn’t afraid to speak for himself.
Secondly, he had a firm belief in how the game should be played. When asked what he would do if a player disagreed with his methods, he said, “I’d ask him how he thinks it should be done, have a chat about it for twenty minutes and then decide I was right”. He also famously said that “If God had intended for us to play football in the clouds he wouldn’t have put grass on the ground.” He had very firm beliefs in how things should be done, and he wasn’t afraid to say it. He wouldn’t have been as good a manger without.
Thirdly, he wasn’t afraid to shake things up. When he first took over Derby County, he released 11 players, and kept only 4. He never hesitated to change how things were. And it was something he wasn’t afraid to admit, saying that if he had gotten the chance to manage the England national team, he would have changed it “lock, stock and barrel”.
Confidence in himself, confidence in his belief, and a propensity for change. 3 ingredients that would push anyone towards success, don’t you think?
Tags: belief, Brian Clough, change, confidence, Nottingham Forest
