Saturday, March 07, 2009

Jeff Jarvis: Bold Restructuring

Video: Eye To Eye With Katie Couric: Jeff Jarvis (CBS News)

The Great Restructuring by Jeff Jarvis

This is a great blog post by Jeff Jarvis, someone I got to meet in person on February 3 at the Diller building. (NY Tech MeetUp: 02/03/09)

Davos 09: Open Bank full disclosure of performance and compensation. ...... a means to confirm that customers understood what they were buying ...... Bankers are in fortress mode ...... eimagined retail, education, and government. ....... obert Scoble, who has been arguing that the way out of our mess is to start a million companies ....... Shimon Peres, who made a forceful argument that the future will be secured with investment in technology (including biotechnology) and education (which he as much as said was the next thing to come after the internet wave). ........ giving trillions of dollars to the incumbents, to people like that sneering banker ....... We should, instead, be investing our money in entrepreneurs and technologists, the people who will change old industries, reimagining them under new rules with new people ..... need to look at replacing rather than just repairing these broken institutions .... We are bailing out the past. Instead, we must bail out the future.
Scenario For News news - on both the content and business side - will no longer be controlled by a single company but will be collaborative. ....... provide platforms that enable communities to do what they want to do, share what they want to share, know what they need to know together ........ open the process of news in blogs ...... Editors will become more curators, aggregators, organizers, educators. ....... less about controlling a flow than encouraging and improving creation. ....... nvestigations matter more than ever ....... Do what you do best and link to the rest ........ covering a niche deeply ....... The old syndication model will die ..... he wire-service model is in jeopardy ..... any media, wiki snapshots of knowledge, live reports, crowd reports, aggregation, curation, data bases, and other forms ........ EveryBlock will organize data; Outside.in will organize geo content; Daylife will organize news; Publish2 will organize links; Digg will help the crowd curate; Clickable will help sell ads; Google will serve ads; YouTube and Brightcove will serve videos ......... algorithms mining newly transparent government documents ........ Seth Godin’s prescription for The New York Times ..... Why doesn’t the paper have 10,000 stringers, each with a blog, each angling to be picked up by the central site?
The Link Changes Everything The more your customers take ownership of your brand, the less you will spend annoying people with your ads.
Job Losses Hint at Vast Remaking of Economy

Jarvis is an imaginative optimist.

Instead of seeing job losses and folding companies and wrecked futures and dislocations he sees capitalism's creative destructions. Historic parallels still apply. What is happening right now to the economy seems to happen once every 70 years, has happened four times in a row now. After each such crisis the economy has come out better than ever before. Jarvis is suggesting the same is about to happen all over again. He is focused on the impending good news.

Not all the observations are his, he borrows as freely as he expounds. But they together are a great narrative to these wildly depressing times for the most. Many jobs are lost forever. But new, better jobs have to be created, and people need to be helped to transition to those new jobs.

What are some of his observations, and that of others he mentions?

The market is rightly bringing down the artificially high prices on a host of things.
An old building is being brought down so a new building can take its place.
This fundamental restructuring is to the economy but also to society. How we relate to each other is changing.
Many jobs lost now will never return. "In key industries — manufacturing, financial services and retail — layoffs have accelerated so quickly in recent months as to suggest that many companies are abandoning whole areas of business." (New York Times)
Not just jobs, entire sectors of the US economy might disappear.
Newspapers, magazines, books, broadcast media, all are experiencing upheavals.
A lot of retail is going online.
Business travel will for the large part be replaced by more efficient communications.
Dirty energy will "shrivel."
Real estate construction will decline.
Health care and education will see reinvention and growth.
Ditto government.

The good news?

This is a great time to launch startups.
"Microsoft, MTV, CNN, FedEx, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Burger King. Each opened during a period of economic downturn."
Jarvis emphasizes creating platforms and networks. He talks of "a network of spaces for independent work (the inverse of Starbucks: good with space and services, OK with coffee). Add payroll, insurance, hosting, and all sorts of services."
"Radical transparency" for banks.
He wants to "rethink the auto industry in the image of the computer industry: disaggregating the car so we can reaggregate it from many new suppliers."
There's "new scenarios for news."
There is "rethinking and remaking advertising."

"Every one of the collapsing industries listed above will be replaced - in a different image, at a different scale - and that presents opportunities."

The promise is a new economy, a new society, a new world. Help people see through the transition.

Credit will have to flow again, spending will have to grow again. But they will go in new directions.

But right now we are in the destruction part of the cycle. Let the creation begin as soon as possible.

Jarvis has done a good job of describing where we are now and we are or should be going, but he has not done a good job of connecting the two. How do we help people with the transition? How to minimize disruptions? How to move people from lost jobs to better paying jobs?

Friday, March 06, 2009

Twitter And The Time Dimension

Image by luc legay via Flickr

Twitter is real time search. That is its functionality.

What Should Facebook Do
TweetDeck, Power Twitter, Twitter Globe, Better Than Facebook
TCC: Twitter Community College
Twitter Tips: It's A Bird, It's A Bird
Mitch Kapor Now Following Me On Twitter
I Get Twitter

Facebook is more about space, the human space, the "social graph," as the Facebook people call it.

The next Twitter does not only text and links and photos but also video. And that might be a hardware and connectivity challenge more than a Twitter challenge. But it is only a matter of time before that video part also seeps in. But I don't wish to emphasize that too much. Text and links are enough for the most part. Photos are a plus, but not all that essential.

The next Twitter is not necessarily richer features, it is a Twitter that has 10 times more users and so is more useful to the existing users. An internet with more computers linked in is more useful. A Twitter with many more users will be more useful. A few Twitter users in every town on earth, and we will really have tipped the scale.

And it can't just be about real time search. The search functionality will have to get much better. Users should be able to dig into the archives and make sense. So Twitter can't be just about real time search, rather it has to be about snapshots in time and space.

Facebook will benefit from switching to real time status updates, but it will make a mistake in thinking it is competing with Twitter. They inhabit two quite separate spaces. The biggest lesson Facebook could learn right now is that just like to the Eskimo there are many different kinds of snow, there are many different kinds of friends. There are family, relatives, close friends, classmates, colleagues, acquaintances. Right now Facebook is at the one snow level of sophistication. And that is not good enough. Inner circle interaction should feel different from outer circle interaction. Facebook is not there yet.

How about adding a Hello function to Facebook which would be like the Follow function on Twitter? I can follow anyone I want on Twitter. On Facebook if we are not friends we are not friends, but I think I should be able to say hello to anyone I want to say hello to. They should see I said hello, and they should have the option to check out my profile, maybe they want to say hello as well. And maybe we talk. And decide to become friends down the line.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

What Should Facebook Do

Image via CrunchBase

Facebook is in news today for wanting to catch up with Twitter. Facebook has the mass and the volume, but Twitter has the buzz and the momentum, something Facebook has plenty of. Facebook is a great site, but it could do with improvements.

(1) Do Not Become Twitter

Twitter has its place. Facebook has its place. Facebook would do itself a major disservice if it tried too hard to imitate Twitter. Twitter can not become Facebook. Facebook should not become Twitter.

On Twitter the emphasis is on real time, on 140 characters. On Facebook much more depth is possible. That depth is Facebook's competitive advantage. It should not let go. Instead it should enhance on that depth.

You go on Facebook to better organize your social reality, and to enhance that social reality. You go on Facebook to arrange to meet offline. That offline part is key. Facebook should make event planning seamless. It already does a good job.

(2) Existing Friends

The idea behind Facebook has been that you are only supposed to accept friend requests from people who are already your friends. It is supposed to be a walled garden. It errs on both sides. It does not do enough of it, it does too much of it.

You should be able to accept friend requests from everyone you know, but you don't want your boss to see the same side of you as your college roommate.

On the other hand, what's the point about so many interesting people being on Facebook if you can't make new friends on there? I was at almost 1500 friends and then Facebook went ahead and deleted my account. I got a new one that now has 500, almost all of which are people I know offline.

Friend: now that is a broad category. Facebook should introduce the concentric circles idea. Anybody should have the option to become your fan, but those fans should not see all those many aspects of you that your friends might. Fans should get a much more limited view. And close friends should see more than not so close friends. There should be a whole category called colleagues.

(3) Making New Friends On Facebook

I think that is probably the largest untapped potential of Facebook. Facebook should be a place where you go to meet people. But it has to be safe, and it has to be gradual. You should be able to explore shared interests and conversations for a long time without having to reveal your name or face.

The Unfacebook

Facebook could morph to become the leading dating site. But it should not do so by becoming like the other dating sites. Facebook can become a job site, a place you go to seek talent. Once you get that many people at one place online there are so many things you can do.

(4) Status Updates In Real Time

I believe they have already decided to do that. Good. About time. Here Facebook could really give Twitter a run for the money, especially if it not only does status updates in real time, and makes it URL friendly, but also does a good job of allowing people to search just the status updates.

(5) Allowing Celebrities To Mingle

If you had a million fans, what should your Facebook experience be like? I think people who end up with a large fan base on Facebook should have special features just for them. A million fans should be manageable because of Facebook. How exactly you would do that, I don't know, but I got a few ideas. Fans are not just after the celebrities they are after, they are also after each other. Make that happen. Celebrities should be able to interact with their fans. They should be able to "zoom in" to perhaps interacts one on one, to meet, arrange to meet.

(6) Deepening Friendships

Facebook should be one of the tools that allow you to become better friends with people you are already friends with.

(7) Facebook For Family

Maybe Facebook should help you build an inner core to your profile that only a few close people get to see. Perhaps status updates should be layered. Maybe you want one status feed for the eyes of your spouse only.

(8) Safety And Privacy

Those are paramount. Add all the features in the world, but if you botch these two, you are in bad shape. The idea is not to stop being a walled garden, but rather being many gardens, some more walled, some less, some out in the open.

(9) Photos, Videos, Links

Facebook totally took off with photos. I believe there are way more photos on Facebook than on Flickr, and that happened a long time ago. Flickr made a bad move: it started charging.

If Facebook wants to compete with Twitter, it needs to compete in the aggregation and sharing of links. Links are the number one action on Twitter. Make it easy for people to post, share, search.

(10) Status Stream

That has to be real time. I believe Facebook already did that. Good.

TweetDeck, Power Twitter, Twitter Globe, Better Than Facebook
TCC: Twitter Community College
Twitter Tips: It's A Bird, It's A Bird
Mitch Kapor Now Following Me On Twitter
I Get Twitter

Monday, March 02, 2009

TweetDeck, Power Twitter, Twitter Globe, Better Than Facebook

TweetDeck

Twitter changed my life. Then TweetDeck came along and it changed my Twitter life. Twitter.com is you driving a car. TweetDeck, and you are in an 18-wheeler. You feel the power.

@paramendra

Power Twitter

That is when you really get it. Twitter is no longer a waste of time, but essential to your work and life. If you don't tweet, your career suffers a little that day. If you don't tweet, you are a little less happy that day, unless it is your day off. I recommend taking one day off a week.

@paramendra

Links, People: Twitter Planet

Bumping into great links, either to news or to information or sites - like Padmasree introduced me to Science Daily - is half the fun, the other half is bumping into great people. On Twitter I am a heat seeking missile looking for tech entrepreneur types. I have found some big ones, and several not so big ones, all exciting. Since I have never been a big fan of beer, this beats meeting them over beer. Or maybe not. I'd love to meet them in person. But Twitter is the only way for me to get to them one on one now. There is absolutely no other way.

But I am not just after celebrities, actually I avoid the non tech mini celebrities. Quite a few times I have ended up asking, excuse me, but are you someone famous? It is called not owning a TV.

One of my recent delights has been going on a Twitter world tour. And finding people in the top cities of the world. This beats New York City. In NYC you mostly see people from all over the world. On Twitter you actually interact with them, at will. I wish the NYC Subway were more like Twitter. I wish the subway was where you went for easy, impromptu conversations.

And, by the way, Brooke Ellison is a total sweetheart.
https://twitter.com/brookemellison/status/1273803450

@paramendra

I Speak More Languages Than I Thought I Did

Enter The Dragon: Google Translate.

I understand about 10 languages as is, six of them really well. But then one day I wrote to Steven in Chinese, he wrote back to me in Hindi. The guy does not speak a word of Hindi. In case you are wondering who Steven is, he is my very own personal emissary to China, my own Marco Polo, if you will.

I have tweeted in Russian, Portuguese, Spanish. To the world out there I say, bring it on.

Not long after I got on the flying saucer, I mean the TweetDeck, I went on a world tour. I went to some of the fanciest cities in the world, and checked out some of the top Tweets in those cities, started following some of them. My ranks swelled.

Since I really like to follow people I follow, I can't follow too many people. So for my next world tour, I think I will only visit cities and Tweet pages to read and comment. If some of that leads to me getting more followers, I am not complaining. Who wants to be a millionaire? Who wants to be popular?

@paramendra

Power Networking

Someone I met on Twitter who happens to have a Brown BA and a Columbia MBA is helping me find a top biz talent for my nascent corporate team.

@paramendra

Better Than Facebook

If I had only one hour to spend, and it was a choice between Facebook and Twitter, guess where I am going! Facebook does not even compare in terms of the online experience of tweeting. Twitter is more fun than Facebook, it is more fun than email, heck, it is more fun than search. Search is work, Twitter is fun work. Twitter is the smartest career move I have made this year so far. And this is not fun you later regret, like the morning after a bad - as in badass - college party. This is fun and thrill, as in the fun and thrill of knowledge, networking, great company, the feeling of living life on the edge. There is the feeling of uninhibition. Twitter is a drink that quenches and makes you thirsty.

@paramendra

TCC: Twitter Community College
Twitter Tips: It's A Bird, It's A Bird
Mitch Kapor Now Following Me On Twitter
I Get Twitter

@paramendra

Steve Case: AOL Founder

https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1227962213

Padmasree: CTO of Cisco
https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1227950181
https://twitter.com/Padmasree/status/1260569556
Joe Trippi: Dean 2004 Campaign Manager
http://twitter.com/JoeTrippi/statuses/1221127774
http://twitter.com/paramendra/statuses/1221187540
Huffington Post: Top Political Blog In America
http://twitter.com/huffpost/statuses/1221127779

JP Rangaswamy: CIO of British Telecom

http://twitter.com/jobsworth/statuses/1216881893

@paramendra

@paramendra

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

NYTM Mailing List Continued Controversy

NYTM

NY Tech MeetUp Mailing List Web 5.0 Controversy
NY Tech MeetUp: 02/03/09

RE: [newtech-1] Web 3.0 StartUp Seeks Round 1 Funding (2/16)

I was not even aware of this dust storm. My friend James Gillmore sent
me a Facebook mail to alert me and so I came looking what the fuss
was.

Alex Genadinik To Andy Badera: "total lol...I think this was a funnier
email than that lady who wanted to be taken off the list and didn't
know how. :)"
Andy Badera: "*wahahahaasplat* dang it, where's my monitor cleaner?"

Alex. Andy is my sidekick on this show. Take it easy, or take it with
a grain of salt.

Miles Rose: "the only way to do these small rounds is to put some
money in yourself and piece out the rest to friends and family as
first rounds are always the highest risk but also the highest return"

Miles. Any relation to David Rose? You are right about round 1 seeing
the best return of all rounds. I have limited family in the city, and
that is why I am trying hard to make as many friends as possible,
online as well as offline.

Robert Mah: "talk to a securities lawyer before raising money from
anyone outside of friends and family"

Why do you think I am trying to become friends with people first?

Robert. Any relation to Jessica Mah?

Miles Rose: "technically you may be right. I have a feeling the poster
isnt in the usa and im sure they haven't ever raised money before. is
it an offer or a solicitation of interest? I think the later. as i
thinks it a work in progress the advice to get a lawyer is prudent.
but its not a crime to ask, is it?"

Miles. I am very much in the USA, I have been for over 12 years. I am
in NYC. I was at the last NY Tech MeetUp. I am friends with Scott
(MeetUp) and Upendra (DayLife). Unlike what Andy said at another
mailing list, no, I don't have a Nigerian address. I have prior
experience. I was part of the dot com mania in the late 1990s too like
many of you. You are right, this is a solicitation of interest, hence
the scant details. The vagueness. You meet interested people, strike
friendships. Business happens much later. No crime. No crime. We have
to change the culture in this city. In the valley you raise money
based on a few lines on a paper napkin. And then get that money from
guess where? New York.

Matt Weinberg: "I got the impression that the solicitation, and the
posts about Web 5.0, were all just a joke."

No crime. No joke either.

Eliza Shevinsky: "Miles, it may or may not be illegal to "ask" but
Robert makes the excellent point that doing things by the book will
provide legal protection down the road. And in today's litigious
climate, Mr. Bhagat will need all the protection he can get."

This email feeler is designed to set up face to face meetings with
people to get to know each other. That is all. Business will be
conducted by the rules.

Andrew: "I think the poster is a bot. Or an experiment in satire."

This guy is a troll.

James Gillmore: "Well, he claims to be in the USA, as you'll read in
the quoted text from his blog below...But the real problem is that he
doesn't even tell us what product, service, web app, whatever he wants
investment for. He links to that "Web 5.0 is da Bomb" article, and
deep in it, near the end, he uncovers his business plan:.........My
favorite line is: "ENGINEERS YOU HIRE" "

I have hired a few.

Victor Shamanovsky: "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcq5tcOzito"

Who are these two guys? Victor and Bashar, what are they pushing?

James Gillmore: "Andrew, he's not a bot. You can reach him on twitter,
facebook, etc--and actually talk to him. He's a nice guy with a lot of
enthusiasm. I just hope he can learn a thing or two from how everyone
is viewing his actions and what he's saying....But it would be a great
idea to make a big automated experiment where all the tech communities
are pummeled by a hyperbolic example of a delusional tech newbie
looking for funding, teaching everyone along the way about what Web
2.87 is. The funny thing is just like all the attention we've given
him, he'd probably be able to scale his popularity as a tech celebrity
quite quickly and effectively. Think VH1, Valleywag, etc."

Ryan Clarke: "Great advice Rob. I find myself in the same situation as
the original poster but trying to go legit. Any good/reputable lawyers
left that any one can recommend? Just googled mine and found out he
swindled 26 families out of there homes. And he was a college friend.
Any advice appreciated."

A slew of companies like Google wrote off billions of their investment
in Clearwire recently. Did Google get swindled? They think not. Eric
Schmidt said they still feel that was a great investment. Not all
investments succeed. Actually most fail. Mine will succeed.

Andrew: "Just because "he" or "they" maintain social networking
accounts, doesn't make the behavior any less bizarre. I'm still going
with some kind of joke or hoax being perpetrated here."

What James meant was that I was in the US, I was in NYC. And that I
can be contacted. I can be met in person. Like a slew of people did on
February 3. Stan. Nate. Mark. Jeff Harvis. Etc.

Eliza Shevinsky: "There should be some way to remove this kind of
poster from our list. The last thing that I want is for us to
skyrocket this guy to VH1 stardom! I tend to agree with James that
we're dealing with a real person, albeit a real person who thinks
engineers are something that "you provide." Argh! But whether he's a
bot or just a clumsy newbie sending spam every other day, I think most
of us would like to keep this list both bot and spam free. Nate? What
can be done to be freed from the never ending Da Bomb postings? This
guy has insulted developers, and that's just the last straw... "

I think we just moved from tech startup territory to free speech
territory. When I said "engineers you hire," I meant entrepreneurs
hire engineers, like I have. I was not expecting James or Eliza to
hire engineers for me. I am not a newbie. I have a few flamed dot coms
under my belt from the past decade. I am rising from the ashes.

James Gillmore: "We can not respond to them...but I'll be honest. I'm
quite entertained by his threads, as a lot of us or we wouldn't
respond. I guess that's the VH1-Tabloid dumbing down of society
effect."

I am okay in blog and Twitter territory. I have no desire to get into
tabloid territory. I don't qualify. That would be Donald Trump.

Alex. Andy. Miles. Robert. Matt. Eliza. James. Victor. Ryan. People,
people, follow me on Twitter. https://twitter.com/paramendra

--
http://paramendrabhagat.blogspot.com
http://jyoticonnect.googlepages.com

TCC: Twitter Community College
Twitter Tips: It's A Bird, It's A Bird
NY Tech MeetUp Mailing List Web 5.0 Controversy
Web 5.0 Is Da Bomb
Competing For the Web 3.0 Definition
NY Tech MeetUp: 02/03/09
Conceptually Diligent: Web 5.0 Is Repackaging Hello
Onto Digital Publishing
Mitch Kapor Now Following Me On Twitter
Plenty Of Fish: Online Dating King
Defining Web 4.0
I Get Twitter
Indra Nooyi: Power Woman
Yahoo: The Original Dot Com
Craig Silverstein
Apple's Mobile Space: Sizzling

In The News

Cisco Leads Mobile Experience Transformation as Service Providers ... FOXBusiness
Fujitsu, Cisco Team Unstrung, NY
Fujitsu Announces WiMax Baseband Device For Mobile PCs TAXI Design Network
New WiMAX SoC from Fujitsu can enable the design of WiMAX dongle EE Herald
Harris Stratex Selects Aptilo Networks' WiMAX CSN System for End ... CNNMoney.com
Vendors insist WiMax has a bright future VNUNet.com, UK
Wimax and LTE still slugging it out Inquirer
Intel, Huawei set up WiMAX IOT test lab in China IT Examiner
Will WiMax get a boost from broadband infrastructure spending? VentureBeat
Cisco Goes Where No WiMax Has Gone Before Motley Fool
MagtiCom Launches First Mobile WiMAX Service in Georgia With Cisco ... CNNMoney.com
Cisco Rolls with WiMAX Wireless Week
Central Asian countries roll with Cisco's WiMAX system SmartBrief
Cisco Powers First 4G Network in Moscow and St. Petersburg CNNMoney.com
Cisco's Mobility Technologies Power Russia's First 4G Network TMCnet
tw telecom Drives Nationwide Ethernet Deployments, Utilizes Cisco ... WebWire (press release)
Tw Telecom Bolsters NGN with Cisco's ME 3400 Ethernet Switches TMCnet
Cisco: Mobile data traffic to grow 66-fold by 2013 NetworkWorld.com, MA
Cisco's Got Your GIST Unstrung
How Mobile Will Reach the Exabyte Age By 2012 GigaOm
Mobile World Congress: Fujitsu Targets Netbooks with WiMAX xchange Magazine, AZ
Visit Fujitsu and Experience 2nd Generation Mobile WiMAX at Mobile ... Prdomain Business Register (press release)
Fujitsu Launches WiMAX Baseband LSI for Mobile PCs Japan Corporate News (press release)
Fujitsu Launches WiMAX Baseband LSI for Mobile PCs Tech-On English
Alcatel Forms Group to Push LTE Applications and More PC World
WiMAX coverage to reach 800 million by 2010 NetworkWorld.com, MA

Transition elements

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

TCC: Twitter Community College

(This used to be a Google blog. Now it seems to have become a Twitter blog. It looks like it: Twitter Tips: It's A Bird, It's A Bird.)

In my last post I said I wanted to follow around 100 people, and now I find myself following 237, and I am not complaining.

This article jolted my apple cart: Twitter Professors: 18 People to Follow for a Real Time Education. I immediately proceeded to follow all 18. Then I realized this list had a media bias, as in this was like the Media Department at the TCC, for the most part. So I googled up the "top techies to follow on Twitter" and came up with a wonderful list: The 10 best techies worth following on Twitter | Between the Lines....

After all that school work, it was time for a coffee break, so I went ahead to this list: New York Top 1,000 Tweets. I decided to follow many of the attractive women on the list. Women are more likely to respond back on Twitter than on Facebook or Plenty Of Fish, I think. On Facebook, it is like, oh no, I don't even know this guy. On Plenty Of Fish, it is like, do I want to spend the rest of my life with this guy? I don't think so. On Twitter there is none of that pressure. And so people talk. Women talk. Not all of them. But a few.

If you can find great people to follow, Twitter becomes a whole different experience.

Let me go ahead and list the people from the first two lists.

Twitter Professors: 18 People to Follow for a Real Time Education