Future of Work consortium

  had a minor (very minor, but nevertheless meaningful) epiphany recently regarding the impact the Internet is having on business.

I was listening to a podcast from Business Week featuring Steve Wildstrom, Business Week's very well-informed technology guru. The podcast ("Harnessing Social Networks" - click on the "Listen to this Episode" link), which was based on Steve's April 23 column "Harnessing Social Networking" (the core ideas in the two sources are virtually identical), focused on the wide variety of new ways of creating and leveraging networks - networks among people but of course enabled and put on steroids by the web.

Wildstrom mentions MySpace, and Second Life, and YouTube, which are gradually becoming well- and widely-known. But he then goes on to describe Ning, the new software and hosting company founded by Marc Andreasson of Netscape fame. Ning provides software and a hosting service that makes it relatively easy for any company or group, large or small, to set up its own social networks - for employees, customers, contractors, whomever. The Ning website lists several of its users - the OpenCoffee club, the Dallas Mavericks, Mobile Notaries - primarily small, special-interest groups.

Here's the epiphany: Web 2.0 really is about interaction and conversation. Sure, I've seen that before, and I've actually been writing about how the web enables two-way conversations for more than a decade. But the systems and applications that are coming on stream now are making that crude vision/dream into a very meaningful reality that's far more powerful than I'd ever imagined.

The hot term now is "social networking." As happens so often, what starts among teenagers and twenty-somethings is finally beginning to penetrate the corporate world.

Let me be more specific. Some companies "got" the concept of interactivity a long time ago, but as well-meaning as their efforts were, they were crude at best.

As Wildstrom points out in his column,

The page for American Eagle Outfitters , for example, is mostly an ad for the youth-oriented clothing chain, but it also features discussion forums that cover topics from fashion to store employment. The company has 36,000 MySpace "friends." Some businesses also post videos on YouTube; Hewlett-Packard is sponsoring a contest for the best video featuring an HP calculator.

And of course, lots of other companies have set up blogs, enabled customers to make comments on their site, and even set up User Groups to encourage feedback and commentary. But, again, those are, by today's standards, rather crude attempts at engaging in "conversation" with customers or others who are interested in the firm and/or its products and services.

The core conceptual shift is from broadcasting (as in TV and print ads) to communicating with customers (and prospects, of course). But just letting your customers send messages back to you doesn't guarantee a genuine conversation.

As our friend Rex Miller (see The Millennium Matrix) has helped us understand, the shift from one-way "broadcasting" to genuine interactivity is far more profound than most of us have yet figured out.

A meaningful conversation includes a willingness to listen openly and genuinely hear unpleasant - and even sometimes hostile - ideas and opinions. Again, quoting Wildstrom:

Taking the plunge into social networking raises challenges for any business. When you let customers or prospective customers participate, you have to pay close attention to what they're saying. You are going to get negative and sometimes ugly comments . . . , but you have to accept this as part of the culture of the Web.

The upside is that building a social network around your business can not only give you a richer way to communicate with customers but also a golden opportunity to learn what they're thinking. That can make it well worth the effort.

The worst thing you can do is to enable your customers to give you feedback - and then ignore it. So if you set up a truly interactive website, or support a network group capable of taking on a life of its own, be prepared to let those "outsiders" have genuine influence on your strategy, product design, and branding. The rewards can be phenomenal, but the shift in the way you run your company will be dramatic. Just be sure you're ready for it.

Again, to summarize, the deeper meaning of Web 2.0 is an evolution to a genuine collaboration with all your stakeholders. I see a dramatically different world evolving - one in which we as individuals will be formally connected to whatever groups, small and large, that we choose to engage with. I believe the Web is already affecting politics in incredibly profound - and positive - ways. And I fully expect the business world to be just as dramatically affected. Ignore the two-way Web at your peril. More importantly, I encourage you to embrace it. The journey won't be easy, but you'll be a lot better off for it.

Posted by Jim Ware