Web-Tones

Twitter as a News Source?

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/27/i-cant-believe-some-people-are-still-saying-twitter-isnt-a-news-source/

I believe that Twitter (and Yammer but probably to a lesser degree because it does not have the same "network effect") will likely emerge as part of an emergency management notification system.

Why? Because cell phones are now ubiquitous and provide real time publishing as events are unfolding. We almost always have one available.

But there are probably other business applications in selected niches where this kind of real time communication is important. Perhaps competitive advantage going forward goes to those organizations that "communicate better than the competition."

Do those that communicate better learn faster?

We had the computer age. This was followed by the information age. Now we are living in the communications age.

Here's some more real time tweets from Mumbai.

More on Cloud Computing.

It seems like more and more I have been reading about cloud computing and reasons that businesses should fear it. I suppose that this is "natural" since people tend to fear what they don't understand or in the case of enabling technologies, what they do not use.

Let me just make a bold assertion: the movement to the cloud is not only inevitable, it is already a done deal. Why? Because all of the momentum, and of the investment by tech's heavyweights now, and going forward, is targeting the cloud. End of argument.

We go where they go and they have gone to the cloud.

Virtual Conferences?

Link: Healthcare & Technology: Have you ever attended a Virtual Conference?. Wow, this is amazing stuff. I got a sneak preview into this virtual world and was "blown away." While I am definitely a geek, I have yet to venture forth into Second Life or any of the other virtual worlds.

BUT, this was a business conference conducted online in a virtual world wherein you could navigate to booths, hang out in the lobby, etc. Very cool!

The End of Bigness?

Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of the dominance of huge business organizations? Look at who is failing in a colossal fashion: big banks, big automakers, big insurance companies. Sure, there are probably, percentage wise, a significant number of small businesses that are failing as well, they simply don't make the headlines. BUT, I would argue that in an age of constant economic disruption, it's the little guys that are more resilient, quicker to adjust, quicker to regroup, etc.

The economic argument for big has historically been economies of scale, but in this kind of environment we may be, for the first time in a very significant way, witnessing the "dis-economies" of scale. For many years we have heard the constant refrain that small businesses create 80% (or some high number) of jobs. That said, they certainly do not have the political clout of the big boys. Perhaps it is high time that this change. If small businesses are indeed the "engines of growth" then their interests should be better reflected in economic policy.

The Internet & the Presidency?

This post is not political commentary but rather one related to the idea captured in Clay Shirky's book "Here Comes Everybody. The power to organize without organizations." This is part of the untold story of this election. Who needs brick and mortar phone banks when everyone has a cell phone? Who needs to attend "organizational meetings" when email is universal and a website (and not much more) can serve as the coordinating hub in the wheel?

Think that this sort of operational excellence can only be achieved in a national campaign? Think again. Clever politicians will find ways to use enabling technologies to organize, raise money, and get their message out in a dramatically more cost effective manner than they have heretofore.

Enabling technologies will change the political landscape in ways that are currently not well understood. Sure, the mass media now talks about the Internet (and leverages it) but the nuts and bolts of how it is leveraged at the grass roots level in an economically compelling way is mostly beyond their pay grade.

This is just another example of the chasm between the old world and the new.

Cloud Computing & Recession?

I often "wax poetic" about the power of enabling technologies with respect to exploring revenue opportunities that were simply out of reach in the past for most small to medium size businesses. I remain a believer. We use these technologies on a daily basis to expose our services to hundreds of prospects a month. Prospects that we could not have (cost effectively) reached without Search and online marketing.

However, all things being equal (e.g. no recession), the "power" of these technologies is a promise that is too foreign for the masses of small entrepreneurs. No more. Entrepreneurs (read attorneys, doctors, plumbers, electricians, and "Indian Chiefs" etc.) clearly understand that saving a dollar is the same as earning a dollar. There is no need for calculus, basic addition and subtraction suffices. In a world where aggregate demand is falling (sharply) there will be a global movement to reduce operating costs.

What will drive "cloud computing" is not the "power" to grow revenue (although it clearly exists), but rather the "power" to save your business by reducing your cost structure.