MeshForum 2006 – Jon Lebkowsky and Zack Rosen

Quick, great presentation by Jon Lebkowsky and Zack Rosen, talking with the group about the differences between “traditional” (a.k.a. “broadcast”) politics and emerging, network-based political models.

The big comparison:

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Strongly suggest checking out both of their blogs, as well as really looking at (as opposed to scanning) each of the points in the table above, sourced from Jon. Most importantly, each of those points of comparison is just as valid with respect to how organizations can choose interact with their customers. Thoughtful stuff.

MeshForum 2006 – Anil Dash

PICT1102.JPGAnil Dash from SixApart is speaking about blogs. First quote: “How many of you know what a blog is?” Contrary to defining blogs as a technology or platform, instead Dash described a blog as “a way to connect.”

Ratio of writers to readers in the SixApart network have changed from 1:40 to about 1:1000 for blogs that are “public facing.”

Two thirds of the users on LiveJournal are female. “A haven for those who want to communicate in a way that’s private and controlled.” On LJ, it’s more like 1:6 or 1:8 of writers to readers.

“You might read 1000 feeds…but you don’t have 1000 friends.”

“Real influence is not measured in raw numbers. Real influence is related to the number of people who you are connected to who really care about what you think.”

“The New York Times thinks they compete with the Washington Post. The New York Times is not competing with the Washington Post. The New York Times actually competes with recipes from my grandmother. The New York Times competes with information from my friends.”

“There are only a couple of different ways to connect. A person can connect at a really high level with 6-8 people, and at a moderate level with about 150 people.”

The most popular community on LJ is “Oh No They Didn’t” … a community of about 250,000 celebrity gossipwatchers. Most of those people watch this information on their “friends” page — they intersperse this information with information from their friends and family news.

MeshForum 2006 – Robert Scoble & Shel Israel

PICT1094.JPGRobert Scoble and Shel Israel gave a little bit of background on their book Naked Conversations.

Key points: Listening…a person who starts a blog on “quilting” will be indexed in two hours.

Shel Israel tells a story about Vyew, instigated by Dennis Howlett. Vyew listened to the needs Dennis and incorporated feedback into their product within days. Outstanding.

“A startup can get instant global feedback by an audience who cares…it’s R&D on steroids.”

“One of the things that blows me a way is that during the course of a week, I have conversations with people in a dozen countries.”

“Fundamentals are just that…fundamental. But these things take time. Blogging is not the revolution — conversation is the revolution.” — Shel Israel


Q: What’s the difference between a “group” blog and an individual blog?

A: (scoble) Within Microsoft, group blogs are discussed in a committee. They are vetted and approved, they are slowed down and watered down.

A: (israel) I think group blogs are going to get more unfiltered over time. Right now, if you look at the tech sector, the only big one is TechDirt. (Scoble rebuts, that some teams within Microsoft have team blogs that are very popular.)

Q: As people blog, are the able to be more of themselves? I’m interest in the differences between who people “are” when they’re on a company blog? Are people able to be more of “who they are” when they’re on their blogs?

A: (israel) By companies allowing companies to allow middle level employess to blog, they are creating a culture that is humanizing the company. (ed. – BRAVO!). What is happening…we want to remain humans when we go to work. We want the world to know “I’m more than just the person who sits in cube #72X.”

Q: What would you do if you were going to blog about issues you were having at work with a supervisor?

A: (israel) You’d want to think about that. Yes, test the membranes of the company…but dont be stupid. When you blog, don’t do things that will prevent you from getting your next job — digial lasts forever.

A: (scoble) If you’re going to take on your boss, or take on your management, you have to know that you’re taking a risk. Have your eyes open, and that you’re taking on a culture. Go in with your eyes open and know that you’re putting your job on the line. Someone link Mark Jens broke a rule…talking about financial results, and that will get you in trouble in a public company. He poured fuel around his own feet, and lit it on fire.

Q: How do you deal with comments, especially when the comments devolve in incivility?

A: (scoble) I’m now taking the “living room” rule. If a comment is not something that I’d expect to hear in my own living room, I’ll take that comment out. I don’t want to subject my readers to that.

A: (israel) If you have a company, these kinds of negative comments are going on anyway. For me, the big education is in listening to the negative comments. Skip past the first sentence where they call you names, and go to sentence three where they get to the root of their issue. Companies that can do this inch closer to their customers, and the wisdom of crowds sets in, and companies begin to get a lot wiser.

Q: Christopher Allen asked about the “Tyranny of the Popular.” “I want to take the ‘long tail,’ and cut off the head. The ‘popular’ dominates the first twenty pages.”

A: “Aggregators of the popular like Memeorandum are like purified sugar, and you need some fiber in your life.” – Scoble

More thoughts: Howard Greenstein

Links, Links, Links

“Link” is a word we all throw around a lot. A lot. Let’s go to the source on this for a minute (source: answers.com):

noun

  • A unit in a connected series of units: links of sausage; one link in a molecular chain.
  • A unit in a transportation or communications system.
  • A connecting element; a tie or bond: grandparents, our link with the past.
  • An association; a relationship: The Alumnae Association is my link to the school’s present administration.
  • A causal, parallel, or reciprocal relationship; a correlation: Researchers have detected a link between smoking and heart disease.

verb, transitive

  • To connect with or as if with a link: linked the rings to form a chain.
  • (Computer Science.) To make a hypertext link in: linked her webpage to her employer’s homepage.

verb, intransitive

  • To become connected with or as if with a link: The molecules linked to form a polymer.
  • (Computer Science.) To follow a hypertext link: With a click of the mouse, I linked to the company’s website.

Now, those are just some of the definitions that are in current usage. And they are all about connection.

chicago4
(social networking exercise, Chicago, IL, 2005)

When two things are connected, a link joins them. Take some linked items, and join them together, and all of a sudden you have a network. Dave Gray writes:

“Networks form the basis for everything, from the tiniest atom to the entire universe. Understanding networks and how they function may be one of the most important competencies of the knowledge economy.”

I agree with Dave. Which is why from Sunday-Tuesday, like Dave, I’ll also be at MeshForum. It looks like there’ll be a few other folks there, as well:

And many others, too. Here are a few links where you can learn more about MeshForum, register, or even check out the Haystack-based network we’re setting up for the event.