The Power Of Recommendation…
Sun CEO Schwartz points to a terrific move they are making:
“Which is why you’ll see something very interesting next week start to appear on Sun’s web pages and throughout our our on-line store. You’ll start to see product reviews written by users. You’ll see user defined ratings, right on our products. Just like book or product reviews as Amazon.com…”
They are starting with a few products and going from there. Brilliant!
This got me thinking about the need for a system for recommenders to be authenticated. Some kind of opt-in registry so those of us reading the reviews get even more transparency into who is recommending. As much as I would like it though, I’m not sure it is needed.
The very act of participating and the inherent transparency of the act turns blogs and the web into one big “transparency engine”. Sunlight is indeed the best disinfectant.
When Employees Blog…
Interesting look at the ethical issues associated with employees blogging… Brad Rawlins also has some interesting research looking at how much attention stakeholders deserve. More to come…
Edelman Gobbles Up A&R Partners
A&R are one of the most highly regarded independent PR agencies in the Valley. At least one part of that statement stands, but not the independent bit. Edelman is the new owner, completing a much needed strengthening their tech capabilities that makes them a real force now in the Nth American tech market. Bizarrely the story is running on PRWeek and on Steve’s blog, nothing on Edelman or A&R.
Edelman’s tech footprint also includes Zeno with long-term clients like Oracle. So it’s now Next Fifteen with brands like Bite, Outcast and Text 100 pitted against Edelman with Zeno and A&R. Are we looking at the two break-away holding company brands in tech worldwide?
While Edelman will have to deal with the inevitable integration issues that come with any merger(retaining clients and staff, and dealing with conflicts – the big three), what it looks like they are going to do is similar to Next Fifteen – that is, keep the brands independent and fuel their growth. Merging Edelman’s tech group into A&R solves another issue – the conflict with Microsoft.
More than anything though, this looks to be about fueling growth through talent acquisition. I meet with plenty of agency heads and they are all saying the same thing. Can’t find great talent, can barely find good talent. This is a talent starved market.
Good move by Edelman.
Shai on Community…
Great quote (thanks for the pointer Ross!) on the power of community – not just to build momentum but also lower operating costs and improve customer experience. Shai is talking about their Software Developer Network:
“…500,000 visitors per month. Aggregation of knowledge that is second to none. slashdot for SAP. SIs in India are hiring them 500 people at a time and saying for their first three months they are supposed to participate in SDN. Aggregation and knowledge and self-categorization has created an environment where you know the guy who is giving advice may have a point ranking that shows they don’t have a life, but a lot of knowledge. We are contributing perhaps 20% of the content. Average time from Q&A is less than 30 minutes, I wish our support channels were that effective.”
Taking Time
One of the side benefits of a good blog reader and sites like popurls is they introduce you to material you might not have bumped into. Some are just good refreshers – like this piece today on Flow. Others flag tips and techniques that are worth remembering or implementing – like this one on time mapping. Articles like this remind me why it is worth taking time each day for a stroll through the blogosphere.
