21st Century Organization

Facebook Groups in Business Webinar: Learn from Kimberly Samaha, Eric Edelstein & Francois Gossieaux

Multiple posts to this blog chronicle the Facebook Groups in Business Investigation convened with colleagues Bill Anderson and Victoria Axelrod.  Data gathering began last December, 2007 and concluded February 2008. First results were presented to the University of Warwick's Knowledge Innovation Network's spring workshop March 2008.

Tomorrow, Wednesday June 25 at 3pm EDT we have the privilege, thanks to TheAppGap blog sponsors Intuit Quickbase, of discussing our learning in a webinar.  We will be joined by three of our contributing Facebook Group owners: Kimberly Samaha, Eric Edelstein and Francois Gossieaux, who will share their experiences using Facebook Groups in support of business goals.

Through our Facebook Groups Investigation we're very aware of the many time demands challenging each of us. At the same time your finding time to participate and share your experiences and insights about Facebook Groups in Business is appreciated.

More about the webinar addressing "Should Your Business Be Friends with Facebook?", and how to register are here. The invitation to contribute questions in advance remains open.

~ Jenny Ambrozek

Thinking YOU can Ignore Facebook? Lessons from Revolution Health & A Space

     Not sure how it is for you but for me it seems everywhere I go, there is Facebook. TIME Magazine has pronounced "Why Facebook Is the Future".  The Financial Times under a headline "Route to social success" interviews Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg about his plans for Facebook and reports backers "think it is worth $8bn-$10bn".

     The New Zealand Herald is focused on the productivity issues with employees devoting work hours to Facebook costing companies billions. The New York Times reports a successful viral consumer campaign started in Facebook that has Cadbury Schweppes bringing back the Wispa chocolate bar on a test basis. Martha Stewart has a Facebook profile.

     Already in July Scoble and Calcanis were discussing "Facebook fatigue".  Edge technology users in my circle are already abandoning Facebook because it's too many clicks.  It will be REAL interesting seeing whether the member and site activity growth since Facebook opened their platform to developers May 24 can continue.

      Online all aspects of Facebook are dissected ranging from the privacy issues associated with Facebook exposing member profiles to search engines to whether the arrival of the older crowd will deter founding college student members from using Facebook. A flurry of Facebook Groups trying to figure out Facebook for doing business have emerged.

      What's occupying me however are recent conversations with people who think they can ignore Facebook. Thanks to Mark Meaney, a new found Facebook friend, this past weekend I discovered Revolution Health's use of Facebook Groups to reach their audiences.  Smart I thought.  Knowing Revolution Health's CEO is AOL founder Steve Case, I'm paying attention.

       Then through Valids Krebs Network Weaving blog a fascinating post on A Space, a  social networking platform for the intelligence industry the Financial Times reports is being  developed by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence.

       For me whether or not Facebook emerges as THE social networking platform for business is still to be decided. I don't know but I'm betting, (based on industry history), that leading enterprise platform providers like Microsoft and IBM, as well as startups we are yet to learn about, have developers working away to claim that space.  Hopefully they are also working on providing automated activity data collection for group administrators.  In my view if Facebook wants to be a serious contender for business networking, metrics are essential.   

        Meantime rather than ignore Facebook I'd encourage all organizations to experiment and see how a Facebook type platform might create value for your business.  And the main reason is what Valdis Krebs highlights in his assessment of whether A Space will succeed:

"IMHO, just putting social web technology into a strong culture, averse to sharing and connecting, will not change how things get done. MySpace and Facebook worked because they were dropped into cultures eager to connect. The IC needs to get the sociology right before they support a new culture with new technology."      

Making successful use of a Facebook like platform is not about the technology. It involves new mindsets and openness that in my experience seriously stretch traditional organizations.

~ Jenny Ambrozek

Proving the Value of Connecting Intelligence: Learning from Bill, Victoria, Ed & Renny

Bill Anderson, blogging colleague Victoria Axelrod, Renny B. Amundsen and Ed Vielmetti were all kind enough to add thought provoking comments to my earlier post reflecting on 20 years online.  The result, thinking back to some of the interesting topics uncovered in research for our Knowledge Tree article. Here's some additional thoughts building on their insights.

1. Paying Attention to What we Leave Behind and Managing Identity

Bill Anderson, your observation that:

"Then again, maybe it won't be so great. I don't know about you, but I keep various aspects (not all aspects)of my life separate. And I like it that way."

reminded me of Sandy Pentland and co's work at the MIT Media Lab we've been following. If you are not tracking you might find interesting for considering the breadcrumb trails we leave through our connected lives.  And to me this study of "Cooperation and Conflict between Authors with history flow Visualizations" is stunning.

Victoria, thanks for the pointers to considering our "separate identities" and the move to managing a "single profile" as social networking unfolds.

2. Patti Anklam's "Networks in the World"

Ed Vielmetti, absolutely resonated with your:

"It's really remarkable now that you can bootstrap a 100 person organization.. with no code and no cash outlays (as long as you are will(ing) to tolerate a few advertisements sprinkled throughout)."

For our article I talked with Patti Anklam whom you might know, author of Net Work. Patti speaks about how, in a networked world, we can create "ad hoc organizations"... "to create articles, do business together, learn by stretching ourselves into different media".

I don't know your take on Yochai Benkler's "Wealth of Networks" but to me it seems organizations generally need to be paying closer attention to dynamically creating "networks in the world" and leveraging "social production" for nimble operation in a connected world.   

3. What's Next?

Trust Renny that you will share highlights of your speech to the software company user group.

Thanks everyone for rich comments.  Appreciated.

~ Jenny Ambrozek

Ambient Information = Connected Intelligence

Clive Thompson writes in Wired Magazine ... We're more likely to act on a subtle but continuously present message than an intermittent one we're forced to stare at. It's "the psychological paradox of ambient information".

Imagine using the device for measuring customer interaction with your company or  knowledge sharing among your employees. If it is up, customers are benefiting.  Let's call it a "Connected Intelligence Meter!"

This device exists and is used extensively by project teams at Google, eBay, Microsoft, and the Arkansas Children's Hospital. Ambient Devices CEO David Rose designed the technology which enables his device to tap into data streams which already exist but in their numerical form do not have as great an effect as a glowing orb which changes color.  You can even have the orb as part of your tool bar.

One of the latest applications is to track your personal energy use - are your adding to carbon consumption or helping to reduce it?

We just finished an article  on connected intelligence for Knowledge Tree, an Australian online  journal by using a wiki which Jenny Ambrozek has posted about here.

Although we will not be using an ambient device this time we will be taking real time questions on our live webcast on August 20th  if you are in the Northern hemisphere - midnight for east coast USA and 9 PM for west coast or August 21st for those past the international dateline. 

Please join us by registering at the Knowledge Tree Elluminate Portal  prior to the event.

To view the hardware and software pre-requisites for Elluminate Live! please visit

http://www.elluminate.com/support

Wiki's and other highly interactive social media which depend on collaboration - "connected intelligence" would definitely benefit from an ambient information system to measure participation.  A subtle pervasive indicator to let you know your participation has an effect.

~ Victoria G. Axelrod

Using a Wiki to Co-Create an Article: Paying Attention to Uluru

Thanks Chris Carfi for sharing our lessons learned using a wiki to co-create an article on "learning through participation and connected intelligence" for Knowledge Tree, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework ejournal.  (My June 29 post provides context.)

Working with co-authors Victoria Axelrod and Kiki Mulliner on this article was a privilege and the lessons learned Chris Carfi points to from our article submission was just the beginning.  Rich conversations happened throughout with my co-authors and the group of people we approached for insights, and others who found us during the writing process. See the Acknowledgements page in the wiki. My sincere thanks to all.

Those distant from the oldest continent may be unfamiliar with Uluru the world's second largest monolith, and World Heritage site in the heart of Australia. I'm fortunate to have visited, and driven the 9.4km circumference at dusk, marvelling at the landscape that is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara, the Aboriginal people of the area.

Photo Stuart Edwards 2006 Wikimedia Commons License

Uluru came to mind as we collaborated in the wiki and worked on the article.  Why? Because while Uluru impresses as it rises over a 1,000 feet above the desert plain, what's even more impressive is the unseen estimated two thirds lying below the ground.

I've participated in online email based Yahoo and Google groups and been conscious of the significant activity that happens behind the scenes in private exchanges.  I was paying close attention during our article writing collaboration because I realized our wiki "Recent Changes" made very transparent when we were, and were not active.

Being absent from the wiki was not a good indicator of whether or not work on the article was proceeding.  At times yes, it was, when we were travelling or engaged in other pursuits. But invisible through the wiki, especially as the deadline approached, was the flurry of email exchanges between the co-authors and the smart people in our networks we were tapping for insights, as well as phone calls, blog and Facebook activity. Not to forget the hours each co-author contributed to independent writing and editing to emerge the article.

We didn't track time devoted to each activity, or what part of our effort ultimately was most valuable for producing the article. However, if organizations are to increase proficiency in using collaborative tools like a wiki, based on our experience I seriously encourage paying close attention, gathering data to track the process, and allowing time to reflect on what worked and didn't.

~ Jenny Ambrozek

07.07.07 - Live Earth

The critics are out in force on Al Gore's global Live Earth fest but I think they are missing the point - mobilizing young minds (and a few million more senior) to take a small step toward addressing the earth's climate crisis.

It's not about the music, it's not about the event, its about connecting so many people both physically and online in a monster network to participate and influence and issue.

I am old enough to have participated in the first Earth Day and still have my button!  Having grown up around east coast rivers that were polluted beyond recognition from industrial waste I thought this was the norm and that I would never see them as habitable for wildlife or humans.  But we know the end of that story - we did pull together in the US and saved our waterways and more.

Thumbs up to AL and company for using a multimedia platform to effect grassroots changes to consumer behavior and prod corporations, political leaders to step up to sustainability.  I fully expect to see positive results.  Live Earth sure beats Dead Earth.

~Victoria G. Axelrod

Simon Wardley & Tim O'Reilly are talking, & I'm thinking about "Whole New Minds"

Simon Wardley has kindly and thought provokingly responded to my questions about open source lessons for organizations more broadly. My challenge this past week:

When Simon talks there is so much to ponder. Where does one start?

The joy of the Web, wise advisors to fuel thinking without their even knowing it.  Deb Schultz making the case for creativity and authenticity trumping technology, and Jon Husband' writing about more or less hierarchy helped but listening to Tim O'Reilly's interview with Steve Hargadon made me wonder:

Is the key lesson from listening to Simon Wardley and the open source movement about new talents and minds?

In a "Whole New Mind" Dan Pink makes the case for "Moving from the information age to the conceptual age".  Simon Wardley lists "a couple of Masters (Cambridge & Glasgow) that I don't believe are in computer science. In the Steve Hardagon interview Tim O'Reilly talks about his college education in Greek and the classics and argues for the value of "mental models of how the world works" and figuring it out.  O'Reilly also expresses skepticism about formal education, and describes observing in the computer industry how creativity comes from those with different backgrounds, with their formal education almost always not in the area where they have made an impact.  Important is the ability to apply knowledge in a new context, to bring fresh thinking.

Simon Wardley offers much to consider in his post expanding on: 

i. "you cannot efficiently plan out the process of development as it is more akin to research and therefore dynamic".
ii. "three axis of technology, people and requirements being relatively unknown"
iii. "try, measure and adapt".

I see open source movement lessons for organizations in how to balance managing core intellectual assets and brands, the equivalent of the "kernel", against encouraging grassroots collaboration and innovation to fuel continued growth. But having met Simon and listening to Tim O'Reilly I'm sensing open source movement successes also teach the importance of engaging people with fresh talents and mental models to addressing business problems.  Curious what you think.

~ Jenny Ambrozek

Life beyond "Second Life" - The Metaverse Earns an "Intraverse"

Being a tech vet comes with certain disadvantages. Sure, there is the sense of history that makes imagining the future possible, but there is also the whole "been there, done that" mindset whose cynicism blinds you to that big box under your nose with "NOW" printed in big block letters along the side.

Last week, friends, I had such a moment. A client was in town for the first-annual Virtual Worlds 2007 conference, and I was dutifully preparing for the usual round of schmoozing and media wrangling when something totally unexpected happened: A smack, a well-aimed and apparently well-deserved smack that wiped that Web 1.0 smirk right off my face.

The realization? That the 3D Web, known as the "metaverse" to the kiddies, is the cat's iPod, and not for all the hyped-about reasons.

Alongside the scads of press about the newest mall to be erected in Second Life or the latest celeb to take his/her first 1995-style baby steps across the only real estate that seems to be going up these days came the news that companies are using worlds like Second Life for much more than branding and the distribution of virtual goodie bags to the day-glo, griefing citizenry.

ProtonMedia, for one, leases portions of its 3D world to pharmaceutical and insurance companies to train their reps, a world that comes complete with real-time whiteboarding in 3D classrooms and the ability to share Office docs on the fly. On a related note, there's also Forterra Systems, a company that also works with big corporations, but whose mainstay is training for emergency services and homeland security personnel.

How useful. And completely and utterly useful. And what a wonderful reminder of why I got into this business in the first place. Oh, and lest I be accused to not keeping abreast of the latest jargon, there's even a buzzword for this sort of thing. They call it the "intraverse" - you know, like the love child of "intranet" and "metaverse."

Anyhow, there it is, friends. The cynic has been shown his true nature - the optimist in disguise. And now, if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to get back to perfecting my Barack Obama avatar in the hope that his meatspace equivalent decides to do some 3D campaigning.

~ Bill Lessard

Bill Lessard is President and Creative Director of NYC-based PR boutique PRwithBrains; and with Steve Baldwin, is co-author of NetSlaves and NetSlaves 2.0. Bill has also contributed to NPR, Wired News, the San Francisco Chronicle and the dearly departed Industry Standard. When not talking to reporters, he can be found in pitched frag-fests in his favorite first-person shooters or wondering why the poetry in the New Yorker is so bad.

Diagram Of A Blog

Brava to Paula Scher! Her Diagram Of A Blog in today's New York Times maps the civility cycle.

View this photo

~ Victoria G. Axelrod

Trampoline Systems: Responding to the dysfunctional nature of corporate systems

Following the money-- investments in technologies that are and will increasingly impact organizations (like Cisco's recent acquisitions), -- via Jerry Bowles Enterprise 2.0 micropublication an interesting note reporting an E 2.0 Breakthrough in Europe: Trampoline Systems has raised $5.8 million.

Thanks Nat Welch for alerting me to Trampoline, (until now best known for their Enron Explorer).  Reading Jerry Bowles October 2006 Trampoline Systems Profile: Social Lessons from Enron and Agnes intriguing to see Trampoline's roots lie in co-founder and chief executive Charles Armstrong's, (an ethnographer) 1999 frustration with the  "'dysfunctional nature of corporate systems". His response: retreating to a 72 inhabitant Scilly Isle to figure "how people naturally organize and communicate in an environment without access to the technology and tools of modern communications".  Trampoline Systems, "enterprise software that harnesses social behaviour" is the result.

Having revisited John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid's "The Social Life Information" in search of their way forward paradoxically is to "look around" quote I'm struck by the comparison to Julian Orr, an anthropologist studying how Xerox technicians really worked collaboratively (page 99) and the technologies that flowed from Xerox PARC efforts to support them.  Readers can correct me but from hearing John Seely Brown present I believe both Nextel and PlaceWare, the collaborative tool Microsoft purchased to create,"Windows Live" have their roots in Xerox PARC.

Richard Cross lists the 6 principles underlying Trampoline in a report from O'Reilly's Emerging Technologies Conference March 2006 where Trampoline founder Charles Armstrong spoke:

• The requirement to understand useful social mechanisms in the enterprise

• The nature of implicit authorization parameters within groups or communities


• How Groups pool intelligence on relay targets


• How Groups can function as targets for relaying


• How Relaying is activated by semantic triggers


• The notion of trigger thresholds governed by social network and the need to access activity, content and user preference data from across the whole corporate ecosystem

A thought provoking list in light of recent discussions here about implementing Enterprise 2.0.

~ Jenny Ambrozek