The conference has just created their social network which will allow the attendees to connect with each other beforehand. It’s a great idea although definitely a minimum requirement for this type of event. I’ve picked my schedule with their simple to use tool. I’m primarily interested in the Landscape and Strategy track along with Web 2.0 @ work.
You can take a look at my profile here: http://webexny2008.crowdvine.com/profiles/25391
I leave the detailed description of this pyramid concept to the Wikipedia entry.
I believe though, that other than the lowest level of the pyramid – Physiological, which could be thought of as “Do it or your fired”, that these needs can be thought of in the context of finding creative ways of selling social networking in the Enterprise.
Safety – I suppose in the IT context this could be considered a security issue. To me this might mean not worrying about hacking, about knowing the responsiblity and ability to manage your information is yours and yours alone.
Love/Belonging – this is one of the reasons that the social networking phenomenon has exploded. It’s a new, simple and effective way of forming communities with like-minded people and creating a shared experience with those with whom you may never had a chance. I’ll leave the sexual intimacy aspect out of it from a corporate perspective but it’s easy to see where this can fit. In a global company like mine, allowing people to be parts of communities or to easily search out people that have common skills, functions, interests will increase their sense of being part of something bigger. I find with a large organization, especially one as decentralized as mine, dispersed globally people can easily lose this perspective.
Esteem – this is a no brainer. I believe that the power of social networking to identify subject matter experts, top contributors etc. is empowering to say the least. It gives people more opportunity to get feedback on their content and to refine their thinking to take themselves to the next level (see Self-actualization). Surfacing the highest rated users, most heavily trafficked blog authors, subject matter experts will not only motivate those people but motivate others to contribute.
Self-actualization – social networking provides a medium for people that want to realize their creativity. The idea of that one can spontaneously generate content that can be consumed globally and solve problems that might be outside their traditional scope of responsibilities is an incredible step forward. A finance person using their unique perspective to solve a marketing issue or an engineer assisting with a cost reduction strategy on another continent can only add both value and agility to an organization.
I’m sure most of you have seen this video on youtube or some derivative of it. The ironic thing about the video is that it’s premise ensures that it will be outdated almost immediately. Thankfully there have been a few updates to it. Please check a version from last year called Did You Know 3. I’ve showed these videos to an awful lot of people and all are flabbergasted and most are clueless about what to do about it.
I see such a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on this that I get goosebumps everytime I watch it. It’s not hard to envision a world where I have one identity that allows my Facebook, Live, YouTube, Twitter, Flicker etc. etc. etc connections and content be assembled into a coherent universal profile that can be marketed to. Just think about searching for a car and being able to see which of my friends own that car and their thoughts on it!
I’m very excited to be attending this conference which is co-produced by TechWeb and O’Reilly Media.
Here’s a summary from the Expo Site that sums it all up. Stay tuned for live blogging from the event and for feedback afterwards:
Summary:
We agree. Web 2.0 Expo was launched to connect the builders of the web with the brightest minds, hottest ideas, and most valuable tools – and with each other. New York has long been where the world’s biggest industries go online, and as Web 2.0 grows up and gets serious, the time is right to convene the East Coast web communities under the umbrella of the next generation web. It’s time to come together to learn, share and network. And it’s time to celebrate the size, power, and innovation of the East Coast web industry.
Web 2.0 Expo is for the builders of the next generation web: designers, developers, entrepreneurs, marketers, business strategists, and venture capitalists, people who have experiences to share and a passion for learning – the hot new thing, lessons from failures, innovations and inspirations, and the practical applications of all of the above.
What are the ways we can create more value for our businesses? How can we provide a more meaningful experience for users and customers? How can we have a positive impact on the world we live in? What tools and applications are right for a given project? How do we gather and focus data points to deliver relevant information? How can we increase conversation and collaboration?
The inaugural Web 2.0 Expo New York takes the pulse of the Web ecosystem and looks to its future, training a spotlight across the Web 2.0 universe to illuminate how the Internet Revolution is being created and delivered. What will you do with the power of Web 2.0?
This is an excellent presentation by Shannon Ryan from Non Linear Creations. I will be summarizing and adding my thoughts later today.
Shannon starts the presentation by making it clear that most of us are already part of a social network – whether online or otherwise. He then touches on the key technologies and provides examples. User generated content, RSS, Blogs, Wikis and Tagging are the ones that stand to me as extremely important in the current web 2.0 because they are accessible to the average user and easy to understand. Mashups have a tremendous amount of potential but I’m not clear on how they will evolve to make an impact at this point.
Some of the internet trends are introduced as now starting to appear behind the firewall. The key driver for a lot of this stuff for me is the massive demographic shift that is taking place – or is about to take place with the boomers set to start retiring and a new, much more “socially aware” generation will is joining the workforce.
A social network is about who knows who and who knows what. The obvious but not often discussed formal vs informal organization is covered. In my view the informal organization is how things get done and can include social networks, like minded communities, subject matter experts. Most of this information is never captured in a way that can maximize it’s effectiveness.
He then covers how the consumer tools are coming inside the enterprise. A quote by the Gartner Group (I love these guys): No company will build or sustain a competitive advantage unless it capitalizes on the combined power of individualized workers and social dynamics.” As a side note I would HIGHLY recommend reading Groundswell by Charlene Li for anyone interested in social technologies. Easy to read and very informative. User generated content is another important topic in that it really is the backbone of raison d’etre of the read/write web. The issue is how to manage it and leverage the potentially massive amount of unstructured information to add business value.
Many companies are moving towards adopting one or more Web 2.0 technologies. In fact my company is as well – a concept that was considered way too “out there” just a year ago. The typical intranet is then discussed. These have been a failure for many organizations – especially the “top down” intranet. This is something I have been passionately arguing against (semi-successfully) at my organizations. It’s a no brainer that a democratized bottom-up intranet has more power to create a sense of ownership and impact.
Organizational Network Analysis, a subject I admittedly know little about, is then covered but in a nutshell it’s a process for understanding how work actually get’s done in your organization. As I learn more on this topic expect more posts.
it's there…use it.