Being Peter Kim

Help! I'm trapped in a social media position.

2009-07-07T07:07:00-04:00

It's tough being an internal social media champion. Let's count the ways.

Counterparts decrying how your focus is filled with fluff
Industry experts questioning the value of social media roles
Media quick to lash out and magnify questionable results as bankrupting failures

When I speak to people responsible for social media efforts, they believe their efforts will have an impact...eventually. For now, I'm inclined to believe that these pioneers might as well be sending covert messages out as part of their social media activity. As someone asked me a few years ago, "isn't everything you do online basically a live job interview?"

Have hope, internal champions. Why?

Your counterparts are getting themselves up to speed with social, just in case this turns into something
The most vocal industry experts are usually consultants who are asking to be hired
Media needs your input to save their own business model and to provide valuable content along the way

I'm not sure companies need a chief social media officer, although that's what these people are, in essence. I do believe companies need a social business redesign. But keep in mind that this shift will take years, maybe decades.

Most Popular Posts: June 2009

2009-07-01T08:56:31-04:00

At the end of each month, I've made it a habit to take a look back at analytics for the month and highlight the most viewed content on this blog. In June, the top ten posts - not including any that were top ten in May - were:

Comparatively, the most popular posts in Junes past:

2008: Faulty assumptions in luxury marketing
2007: Windorphins.com
2006: VW Ego Emissions Index

One of the main reasons I write these month-end reflection posts is to provide you with links in case you missed any content as it happened. Blog content can be both highly perishable and easy to miss.

Enterprise 2.0 conference followup

2009-06-29T06:29:00-04:00

I have a few content pointers to share with you from last week. Let's start with pictures...Armano posted sets from our E2.0 tweetup and dinner. Jim Storer posted too.

I hosted a couple of panel discussions. On the "lessons learned from internal communities," my panelists did a fantastic job of preparation, most of which you see in the presentation embedded below. This awesome content is the output of Joan DiMicco (@joandimicco, IBM), Jamie Pappas (@jamiepappas, EMC), and Patricia Romeo (@patriciaromeo, Deloitte).

Lessons Learned From Internal Communities

View more presentations from Peter Kim.

David did a great job of capturing the session on Ustream. You can also check out related tweets, which make for a great running commentary on the panel. For longer form content:

Sandy Kemsley at Column 2
Gil Yehuda on his Enterprise 2.0 blog

My other panel was on the main stage, "does social media and marketing matter?" David caught that one on Ustream as well and again the tweets make for a great playback. For longer form content:

Sandy Kemsley at Column 2
Ben Kepes at CloudAve
Paula Thornton on the FASTForward Blog
Bill Ives at Portals and KM

My colleague Kate moderated a panel called "metrics in the hands of users." If you want to learn more about measurement in social business, you should watch the video and read the tweets.

Dachis Corporation will be discussing social business design further over the coming weeks and months, so let us know if you want to be among the first to know.

Reflections on Social Business

2009-06-22T06:22:00-04:00

It's been almost a year since I started building Dachis Corporation to make sense of all the social things going on out there. Along the way, I've constantly been asked, "what are you working on?"

Today I'm ready to share part of the answer with you, which is social business design: a framework for understanding and applying social constructs to business (visualized above).

Social business design is a mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive way of considering how a corporation, business unit, or project can create and capture value from today's emerging technologies and evolving operating environment. The social business design framework captures ecosystem (community), hivemind (culture), dynamic signal (collaboration), and metafilter (content). Putting these into play creates improved business outcomes as well as emergent outcomes. Measurement provides the backbone to the entire framework, as driving change requires proof.

Dachis Corporation has developed advisory and implementation services to help companies understand and implement social business design. Over the past year, we've worked with some major brands on component parts of the big picture. Moreover, I've been talking about social business design all year; to learn more, take a read through these posts:

Although we're actively engaged with clients, still haven't officially launched with a name or website. To be notified when we launch, tell us about yourself here.

My colleagues have also posted their thoughts today on Social Business Design:

New hires: buying vs. leasing

2009-06-16T00:16:00-04:00

On display at the Cité des Sciences

Think about the last time you brought a new car home. Did you buy or lease it? What went through your mind when making the decision? The right answer depends on your individual perspective and situation, whether it's practical factors such as monthly payments or psychological factors like style and appearance.

Similar thinking needs to be applied to today's hiring strategy. Most industries have a long-standing inclination to "buy," i.e. hire employees who tend to stick around for a long time. You can find plenty of examples especially in capital intensive and network model industries. Others have grown to operate more on a "lease" mentality, most notably agencies and professional services.

During the interview process, many managers vet candidates as if they're being hiring into a tenure track. Consequently, candidates must play the game and feign that they'd never dream of leaving if hired. This generates a lot of wasted energy during the recruiting and ramp-up processes on both ends.

The root of the issue lies in our current work cultures. From an earlier post on transformation:

The way people think about work has remained fairly static for most of the 20th century and into the next. Sociologists say that the concept of work/life balance comes from a world where separation was necessary; work was a dull, necessary evil to support goals that society established for a "normal" lifestyle. Today's workers want to merge their passions and profession. We should choose where we work with an "opt-in" mentality and opt-out just as easily. Isn't that what at-will employment means? But what company is ready to foster this type of open culture?

Leverage isn't a bad thing - it can be bad when improperly applied. Likewise, not using leverage limits opportunities. Managers must orchestrate a balance in employees leased vs. "owned." Employees must recognize their inclination for short- vs. long-term affiliations and seek positions accordingly. You might be able to fool others, but ultimately you'll end up fooling yourself unless you recognize your inclination.

Upcoming: Enterprise 2.0 Conference, Boston

2009-06-09T06:09:00-04:00

Take a walk around Boston

In a couple of weeks, the annual Enterprise 2.0 Conference arrives in Boston. I'm writing this post specifically for the readers who've been with me for a while and are mostly interested in the marketing side of things. Here's why I think you should care...

Social technologies are bigger than both marketing and IT. This is a great chance to build connections with people who can help you drive long-term change.
You don't have to pay to get a lot of great content. For real. Check out the "what's free at E2.0" page - why wouldn't you want to check this out?
My entire company is going to be there. Dachis Corporation will be present and active. My colleague Kate Niederhoffer will be moderating a panel called "Metrics in the Hands of Users: Empowering the Enterprise 2.0 Workforce." I'm moderating two panels, "Lessons Learned From Internal Communities" (#llic) and "Does Social Media and Marketing Matter?" (#e2smm) My colleagues Jevon MacDonald and David Armano will be blogging and tweeting from onsite. And CEO Jeff Dachis and associate Ellen Reynolds will be floating around as well. If you've ever wanted to know what we're up to, now's your time to ask.
There's going to be a great tweetup. Yes, I thought the word "tweetup" was silly when I first heard it too. But they're a great way to get people together and we're coordinating on for Tuesday June 23 from 6 - 8 pm at Atlantic Beer Garden at 146 Seaport Blvd. The idea is to get E2.0 conference attendees together with other social media types - you can RSVP here. The hashtag for the tweetup is #e2ct. Use it wisely.
A critical mass of social media leaders. Boston has plenty of stars to network with while you're in town, like Laura Fitton, Todd Defren, Ann Handley, Chris Brogan, Christine Major, Jeff Cutler, Steve Garfield, Bob Collins, Susan Koutalakis, Alexis Karlin, Doug Haslam, Rachel Happe, Ilya Vedrashko, and surely more that I've missed.

Trust me, Boston is best visited in summer. If you'll be around for the conference, let me know!

Book Review: The Blue Sweater

2009-06-02T06:02:00-04:00

In September 2008, I was invited by Gay Gaddis of T3 to speak at the C200 Conference in Dallas. At the conference, Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund was presented with an award for philanthropic efforts in emerging economies. She discussed a couple of powerful personal stories of her experience with water in India and mosquito nets in Africa. Her stories are collected and published in her book, The Blue Sweater.

In February 2009, Seth Godin offered a copy of Novogratz's book to citizen reviewers and I took him up on the offer. I received a copy in March from Sasha Dichter, who works at the Acumen Fund.

If you have ever been interested in driving change in the world, you should read this book. It offers clear perspective on the realities of making a difference.

I thought a long time about what I'd say in a review of the book. But most of the lessons I took away were reflections on how Novogratz's life made me recall my own upbringing, career choices, and future outlook. Some of my high-level takeaways:

We all have choices. It's tough to know which ones are "correct" in advance, but the key is how you respond to the emergent outcomes you encounter along the way.
Meaningful results take time. Achieving success at scale takes a lot of hard work over years of foundational work. This lesson is absent from today's instant gratification society.
Things change. The world is a different place today and to get value from history, you need to study strategy and adapt tactics. Simply copying behaviors won't do much for you.

For a more traditional style review, I'll point you to an excellent video by Robert Jacobs (length 12:34):

I'm ready to share my copy of the book with someone else who can learn from the story and help share the lessons therein with others. ~~If you're interested, send me your name and address via email.~~ I'll pass it along with the same expectation that you read it, blog about it, and pass it along as well. UPDATE: I'm sending my copy along to Chris Hall at Humana, who blogs at hallicious.com. Chris is part of Humana's Innovation Center and in a great position to drive change similar to that which Novogratz has written about.

Thanks!

Most Popular Posts: May 2009

2009-05-31T23:59:00-04:00

At the end of each month, I've made it a habit to take a look back at analytics for the month and highlight the most viewed content on this blog. In May, the top ten posts were:

Some weak ties were meant to stay weak

2009-05-26T05:26:00-04:00

If you're a Facebook user, you know that other users don't know when you remove them as a friend and vice versa. (Unless you're paying specific attention to that person's updates and suddenly they disappear.)

If you can get over the ego bruise, I think you'll find that unfriending is a good thing for your social network.

Kate Niederhoffer outlines a few reasons why people prune their networks:

Informational / Strength of bond
Permissive / Visibility
Identity Claim / Reputation Management

These factors go both ways, of course.

With the rise of social networks and hyperconnectivity, I think we're biased to believe that all weak ties should be made stronger. But just because they CAN be doesn't mean they SHOULD be. Friendship isn't dead, but in some cases it needs to be taken off of social media life support.

"Google me" business cards

2009-05-22T05:22:00-04:00

I got a free pack of these after creating a Google Profile and a heads up from Lifehacker.

What do you think - interesting, arrogant, or something else?

Is your social media activity a safety net?

2009-05-19T05:19:00-04:00

For more visit MASS MoCA

I've been on LinkedIn for almost five years (you can find this information on your Account & Settings tab). Over the years, I noticed that once in a while when I clicked over to the person behind a connection request, they'd have recently connected to dozens of people. Shortly thereafter, that person would announce that they'd taken on a new role at a new company.

As social media has proliferated, I see more people getting involved to support their company brands - or just building their own. (THE resource on how to do this effectively is Dan Schwabel's Me 2.0.) These days it's not just LinkedIn connections, but new blogs, Twitter accounts, and ramped up public speaking appearances.

Don't get me wrong - there's nothing negative at all about this. In today's world of work, we all need a strong safety net and social media channels provide raw material, with a different thread gauges. But you should know that weaving a solid net takes time - and you need to start before you really need it. (For lessons on how to do this, here's some thoughts I shared last December on Warren Sukernek's successful job search.)

Also be aware that people are watching. And it's not just your potential future employers and colleagues, it's your current and past employers and colleagues as well. This is public, after all. So you may not need the old routine about a lot of sudden doctor's appointments anymore, but your boss might know what's going on anyway just by the digital breadcrumb trail of posts and tweets that you're leaving behind.

Better start weaving before you need to go fishing.

Involuntary advertising exploitation

2009-05-14T17:28:45-04:00

This sign was on the curb outside the Austin airport. If someone don't consent to being exploited in any media ever as stated, how are they supposed to fly home?

Some thoughts on Twitter autofollowing

2009-05-12T09:43:51-04:00

Six weeks ago, I got a note from Biz Stone at Twitter, as did an unspecified number of other users who had autofollowing enabled on our accounts. The core of his message: "We're going to discontinue autofollow because this behavior sends the wrong message. Namely, it is unlikely that anyone can actually read tweets from thousands of accounts which makes this activity disingenuous."

Users can still do this via third party services like Socialtoo and @hallicious asks if autofollowing is good or bad and if the ends justify the means.

Spam is clearly increasing on the site as new users open accounts with hopes of getting rick quick. Autofollowing exacerbates the issue.

I wrote a response to Biz at Twitter, asking:

- What would happen if Twitter masked the actual numbers of following/followers displayed? (Similar to LinkedIn's 500+)
- What if Twitter enabled segmentation on-site (e.g. Facebook friend lists, Friendfeed rooms, or WeFollow tags) or filtered-only following?
- What if Twitter offered analytics? Would user behavior change? E.g. Mailana shows I only message 150 people anyway, so why follow more?
- What if Twitter charged users who apply a "reach and frequency" broadcast approach, for whom autofollow and stats are quite important? (Hello, freemium.)

The headfake

2009-05-11T05:11:00-04:00

Have you ever had something like this happen to you?

You correspond with someone online for weeks, maybe months. Then finally it turns out that the two of you will be in the same place at the same time, e.g. an industry conference. You happen to notice a familiar name on a conference badge among the dozens passing by in the hallway and it's your online buddy.

But you didn't recognize him/her because...they look nothing like their avatar picture.

Well. I've decided on an appropriate term to describe this phenomenon: the headfake.

Definition: Headfake, noun. A situation in which you are familiar with a person's avatar picture, which gives you an inaccurate idea of how that person appears in real life.

I know I've headfaked people myself; at SXSW this year, someone told me I look a lot older in my picture than I really am. Another said that I'm a lot taller in real life than my picture would indicate. (I think these might indicate that I need a better avatar picture.)

So...ever been headfaked? Let us know in the comments, anonymity will be honored!

Aggregate or be aggregated

2009-05-05T05:05:00-04:00

An idea has been floating around in my head ever since we began working with Workstreamer. Or maybe not just an idea as much as the seed for a manifesto. Perhaps just a strategic principle.

Aggregate or be aggregated.

It's been bugging me for months, with roots in the portal wars of the mid-1990s. At the time every internet company's obsession was eyeballs. AOL, Excite, Yahoo!, Lycos, et al. were busy fighting to become your browser's default web page by aggregating the best content.

Then we had the rise of e-commerce. I built and managed PUMA's online stores, watching comparison shopping engines like MySimon and Froogle fight for attention as one-stop product information aggregators.

Most recently, social networks have become relationship aggregators. Friendster, then MySpace, now Facebook. Maybe Twitter will continue its meteoric rise and topple Facebook. It actually doesn't matter.

Here's why. The path to maximum value capture for all of these companies is by pwning a space. The more you dominate, the more money you make, and the less you want someone else siphoning off your eyeballs, affiliate clicks, or active users. So services establish barriers, API limits, etc. - and they ultimately end up as walled gardens, valuable only to those who don't eat apples and are content to frolic inside. This won't work in the long run because information wants to be free.

And Google is the master aggregator.

All those portals that didn't work out? Google. Need click-throughs to product listings? Google. Walled garden social network? In 2007, Facebook opened up to public search. Earlier this year, Twitter changed its title structure for better search indexing. Here comes everybody...no wait, it's just Google again.

There's a lesson in here for brands, and it's not "bow down to your Gmaster." Fred Wilson recently blogged, "aggregation is the central element of distributing content on the web." Steve Rubel hails the end of the destination web era. Jeremiah Owyang lets you know about your irrelevant corporate website. Let's face it: your corporate website is sunk cost.

An answer is inherent in social business design. It's not command-and-control, nor is it inmates running the asylum. It's a measured approach to how people, process, and technology can be applied to create value. It's about proactive aggregation, not reactive right-click copy protection.

Aggregate or be aggregated.

Most Popular Posts: April 2009

2009-05-02T05:02:00-04:00

At the end of each month, I've made it a habit to take a look back at analytics for the month and highlight the most viewed content on this blog. In April, the top ten posts were:

Pretty straightforward lesson here - blog less, less traffic, with a higher percentage of returning visitors. Older quality content starts to stand out. Others have experienced and I will concur, Twitter is becoming as (if not more) important than Google in driving site traffic.

People-Powered Louisville

2009-05-01T05:01:00-04:00

For more Louisville pictures click here

It's Derby Day tomorrow, which reminds me of the times I've inhabited the infield on the first Saturday in May, along with all of the wonderful people one meets there. Things have changed a lot since I was first there 20 years ago and with lots of interesting things going on there today, driven by talented individuals.

In no particular order, but in #followfriday style, here are some of the locals worth finding out more about:

Humana's Innovation team: Greg Matthews, Chris Hall, Elle Waters, Naimul Huq
Yum! Brands, @yumbrands, Toni Ewton, Melissa King, KFC Colonel, Pizza Hut
The team at Doe-Anderson: Jason Falls, Kat French, David Finch
Formerly Yum!, now with HSR Nick Huhn
Louisville geek dinner founder and HowWhiteAmI.com creator Ben Thomas
Amusement park designer Kay Rupp
Proof On Main general manager Brooks Reitz
My old high school friend Jeremy Pearman

I've also got my eye on the Idea Festival in September, which looks like a great event and good reason to visit Louisville. And if you're from out of town, a nice place to stay is the 21c Museum Hotel attached to Proof On Main.

A visit with Humana's Innovation team

2009-04-29T04:29:00-04:00

For more Humana pictures click here

While in Louisville, I was invited to sit in on a meeting of Humana's Chamber of Commerce. It's a group of 18 individuals across the company who have interest and expertise in social media, meeting regularly to discuss how to make the company more social.

Before the meeting, Chris Hall took me on a quick tour of the Innovation team's space, which includes a game lab, treadmill desk, and freewheel!n bicycle, among other concepts. The team's goal is to integrate healthy living into lifestyles, which results in better outcomes for everyone.

The Chamber of Commerce meeting was led by Greg Matthews and I was surprised to see that most of the discussion taking place in the room was being accurately reflected in the tweets of participants. My assumption was that a level of selective filtering would be in place, but the content online very much mirrored the conversation.

The topics of discussion for the day included Louisville PM, Humana's social media commons, network access vs. security, and social business design. Humana operates in a highly regulated industry (healthcare) and it's commendable that these individuals are eager to engage.

You can follow future meetings via #hcoc on Twitter.

A trip to the Louisville Slugger museum and factory

2009-04-27T04:27:00-04:00

I was in Louisville a few weeks ago and had to stop by Hillerich & Bradsby's Louisville Slugger museum & factory while in town. It opened in 1996 and is a place that any fan of the game needs to make a point to visit. I was lucky to get a sneak peek at renovations with executive director Anne Jewell the weekend before the new section opened to the public - and it's well worth the visit.

A 120' Babe Ruth replica bat stands outside the museum entrance. This one's made of steel and weighs about 34 tons. Clearly the Paul Bunyan model.

Courtesy Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory

In the entryway, there's a wall of signatures plate of the hall of fame batters who've used Louisville Slugger bats - which comprises over 80% of inductees. The most surprising fact to me was the average annual contract value - unlike megamillion dollar footwear and apparel deals, most contracts are in the 5 figure range.

The first exhibit you'll see in the new section is a case of game-used bats from Mickey Mantle, Rod Carew, Jim Thome, and David Ortiz. Visitors can don a pair of cotton gloves and heft one of these magic sticks to home plate for a pose and picture.

The new section has plenty of kids activities, a good mix of hands-on exploration and historic explanation. You'll get surprisingly close to lumber used by Joe Dimaggio (the bat from his 56 game hitting streak), Hank Aaron (the one he used to hit home run #700), and Babe Ruth (notched once for every home run he hit that year).

The museum also had the foresight over the past year to plan a Presidential exhibit. Originally the collection contained signed baseballs from John McCain and Hillary Clinton - now the Barack Obama baseball sits on display alone.

Courtesy Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory

Visitors can take a factory tour and see live production. One side churns out professional models, retail and minor leaguers on the other. The day I was there, a cart of Dustin Pedroia bats was waiting to be shipped out. The factory keeps a database of all player specs which includes length, weight, grain width, color, etc. You can have a personalized bat made to order, then step over to a batting cage and try it out vs. a 90-mph fastball.

That's all from the factory and museum...more from Louisville later this week.

Guest Post on ZDNet's Social Business blog

2009-04-20T15:54:49-04:00

Hi - things have been busy and it's been a while since I've posted, mostly due to internal strategy I'm working on. However, today Jennifer Leggio was kind enough to let me guest post on her Social Business blog. I've written a short piece over there about culture, measurement, and managed expectations regarding social business.

Also worth reading, related posts from my colleagues:

Jevon MacDonald's on Understanding the role of Enterprise 2.0 and moving toward a social business
Kate Niederhoffer on measuring the immeasurable
David Armano on how social media is more than marketing

I've got a lot in my head and will be back soon...