Exactly Stacy…
You are right to be concerned:
Efforts such as this one and Cisco’s tie-up with VMware and EMC concern me, as they seem to indicate that the big players are using cloud computing as an excuse to partner with one another. In creating optimized systems of the type that Microsoft and HP will focus on, the danger of vendor lock-in rises. Is optimization becoming code for proprietary?
THe New Communications Playbook
Having been in communications for much of my career it is rare to see any company communicate with courage. So often intent is made opaque by murky language and hyperbole. Corporate word bingo can be played off most announcements. But not Google’s yesterday.
Google’s move last night ushers in a new order in communications. Protocols and the business-as-usual approach to government and business get replaced with transparency and honesty. The first priority, it would seem, is their shareholder and users.
From over at the Merc:
"In a world in which we are so used to public relations massaging of messages, this stands out as a direct declaration. It’s amazing," said Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School and co-director of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
Imagethief beats me to the punch on this one… but it is dead-on.
Google has taken the China corporate communications playbook, wrapped it in oily rags, doused it in gasoline and dropped a lit match on it. In China, foreign companies tend to be deferential to the authorities to the point of obsequiousness, in a way that you would almost certainly never encounter in the United States or Europe. Scan any foreign company’s China press releases and count the number of times you see the phrase, "commitment to China". Demonstrating "alignment with the Chinese government’s agenda" is an accepted tenet of corporate positioning and corporate social responsibility work in China. This is testament to the degree of direct power that the Chinese authorities wield over the fortunes of foreign businesses in China. Even when foreign companies are in dispute with the Chinese government they tend to offer criticism obliquely as long as they have a business stake or operations in the country. Note, for example, the scrupulous diplomacy of Rio Tinto’s communications concerning the detention of its employees last summer, a far more serious situation than anything Google has encountered (although also with far more money at stake).
Social Media Thoughts from Manish…
Some good thoughts from Manish…
A lot of smart people have made a lot of good predictions about what’s coming in social media in 2010. When you put their thoughts together, it’s clear that social media has finally transformed from a frustrating mystery to an essential tool that can and should shape every company’s business from now on. At Dell, we’re paying particular attention to what leaders in the space are saying about three themes: maturation, measurement, and sharing. And we have a few ideas of our own.
Social media: maturing…or mature?
There’s a real consensus that social media is normalizing. As Charlene Li says, "Social media in 2010 will cease being the shiny new object and instead become part of the everyday lexicon of business. The technology will begin to fade into the background so that people can focus on the relationships that are created because of the technologies, not the technologies themselves." Seth Godin, Brian Solis and Guy Kawasaki add that executives who fail to make Social Media Optimization (SMO) as a formalized program are making a game-changing error. I more than agree; in fact, I think we might have said that at the beginning of 2009.
Shel Israel takes this conclusion a step further, predicting that the coming era will be "about as tumultuous as watching paint dry and as significant as the adoption of the automobile." He wants to know what he gets to write about next. Shel, I agree on both counts, but I also think you’ll have plenty to write about in the space. Adoption is here, but we’re not done innovating. Just one example is social commerce. People are browsing retail sites while soliciting shopping advice from friends on Facebook all at the same time. They’re doing it right now with Dell products. The question is what will we develop in 2010 to make this easier and more enjoyable for people?
How do you measure the value of social media?
Robert Scoble and Josh Bernoff, along with a chorus of other leaders, observe rightly that the old metrics don’t apply here. Scoble thinks 2010 is the year that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) isn’t important anymore, and Bernoff says that "marketers will focus less on fuzzy social media metrics and more on real marketing metrics."
Clearly we need a whole new way of evaluating ROI, and I think there are companies who will break through on measurement this year. The solution will tell companies when the complaint of a few key customers carries more weight than criticisms from the broader audience. Last year we were talking about social media allowing us to listen in. This year we need to know the value of what we’re hearing and who we’re hearing it from–not just the volume.
What exactly are you offering customers to share with each other?
As Valeria Maltoni suggests, "Regardless of the industry or company you’re in, you may start thinking about your service as content." David Armano breaks down the progression by pointing out that sharing no longer means e-mail–it involves people posting content on their networks. Brian Solis explains what this means, and why companies that fail to confront the shift will be left behind. "Businesses must also become media properties. Creating rich, informative, creative, and engaging content is critical for 2010 and along with SMO, must be budgeted in terms of time, money, and resources for the New Year."
As for Dell, we’re going to continue to focus on scaling support of social media initiatives within the Dell business units this year, but we’re also planning to roll up our sleeves and innovate a bit too. Join us–let’s explore the land of ecommerce–social-media style–together as an industry. Social media’s stature comes from the people. The innovation will come from all of us.
Efficiency vs. Meaning
Efficiency doesn’t equal meaning. That’s the essence of Nick Carr’s comments on Google. I tend to agree. Knowing involves work – and while search is certainly part of the work, the result doesn’t yield knowing other than at the most basic level.
"It’s not what you know," writes Google’s Marissa Mayer, "it’s what you can find out." That’s as succinct a statement of Google’s intellectual ethic as I’ve come across. Forget "I think, therefore I am." It’s now "I search, therefore I am." It’s better to have access to knowledge than to have knowledge. "The Internet empowers," writes Mayer, with a clumsiness of expression that bespeaks formulaic thought, "better decision-making and a more efficient use of time."
…It’s not what you can find out, Frost and James and Poirier told us; it’s what you know. Truth is self-created through labor, through the hard, inefficient, unscripted work of the mind, through the indirection of dream and reverie. What matters is what cannot be rendered as code. Google can give you everything but meaning.
