Seni Thomas: 2008- The Year Networks Become More Than Social

The primary purpose of online networks, up to this point, has been to congregate around interests, hobbies, and passions to create communities.  In 2008 I predict networks will become more that social.  In 2008 we will see the growth of innovation networks, or i-Nets.  Networks that allow ideas to attract people and people to discover ideas.  Networks that catalyze serendipitous moments.

i-Nets, in a nutshell, are networks that layer advanced people search capabilities, democratic content voting, and collaborative applications over a social foundation.  Think of a mash-up between Google Apps, Spock, Digg, and Facebook.

Imagine a scenario where you work at the Tokyo branch of IBM and one day as you're fighting through the horde at the Shibuya station intersection, an idea on how to optimize an operational process emerges.  Unfortunately, you're a low level accountant; however, through the internal i-Net you run a global search for 2 programmers with Ajax and Java experience, and a product manager in North America.  The query parses the social profiles of IBM employees and an ad hoc team is instantly built around the idea.  Together, enabled by the collaborative software suite, the idea grows and develops.  Finally, your idea is passed along and you garner increasing buy-in from various other employees, and the idea bubbles to the top of the idea-stream where it catches managements eye.

Cool idea, but what problems does it solve?

1. Increases the efficiency of idea dissemination.
2. Breaks down departmental and geographic silos
3. Opens the channels of communication (Make consumers a stakeholder?)
4. Enables the manifestation of the wisdom of crowds

2008 will also be the year of true integration and strategy consolidation. Integration of the 360 degree variety has been talked about to the point where the term incites a Pavlovian cringe; however, it was never actually realized. 

We are seeing the trend emerge with recent major announcements by Dell.  Media has fragmented beyond recognition, and a million smaller shops have jumped at the opportunity to specialize in new media niches, but they need to be included in development of the high-level strategy, instead of the secondary experiments that they are today.  Holding companies were supposed to have been the solution to this conundrum, yet we can all agree that they have failed to meet their promises.

I propose using i-Nets to facilitate the creation of collaborative SWAT teams composed of a representatives from: A creative agency, media planning, research, and design.  These are all symbiotic areas of expertise and it produces a cyclical innovation loop where design inspires creative, planning,  research - and vice versa. 

In today's theater of battle, strategy needs to be consolidated, but not isolated.  The strategy problems the industry faces are too complex to be solved without collaborative input.  Finally, the seeds of strategy must be sowed from the executors to build in accountability.  Perhaps going as far as as linking individual performance targets with group achievements.

As most of the readers of this blog are related to the media, marketing, advertising, and trend watching realms, I wanted to initiate the conversation on i-Nets on common ground.  Now lets expand the conversation:

Personal empowerment: i-Nets will empower and amplify the voice of not only internal employees, but also that of the most important constituency: The consumers.  Let them in on the action and you have a powerful focus group.  A conversation conduit between consumers and companies.

Grass roots economics:  Find, build, and fund the next generation of world changing ideas through i-Nets.

Polarizing extremes:  The social equivalent of siloing.  Conservative vs. Liberal = Account vs. Creative.  Let them communicate through i-Nets and perhaps more effective hybrid solutions will emerge in the middle... Might be asking too much, but there is an increasing amount of people in the center.

Health insecurity:   i-Nets can form the basis of early warning systems and research collaboration.

Smart networking:  Through i-Nets, and the Idea-Stream (The social idea voting component)  aggregated Wisdom of Crowds type of models can be expanded from content to more intangible ideas. I hope you consider some of the ideas outline here when making your professional resolutions.

Cheers, and Happy Holidays! Seni Thomas blogs at Ad-Vocate.

Comments

[Ben Douglas]

This post is very interesting!

and I agree with a lot of what you said...

there's a new website i checked out - a -better- kind of Social network.

www.wannago.com

you gotta check it out!

Ben :)

[Ben Douglas]

i was asked to elaborate about wannago.com

so here i am :)

wannago.com is a new website that was recently launched in Israel (where i currently live)

i heard about it through friends who invited me
to go out with this website..

you have a list of things to do on this website (you can add events - as well).

users can choose an event to go to by stating " I wannago to..." a certain event.

there are thousands of users in the US!! it's incredible actually...

the website has a "Social Engine" that shows you things you might wannago to (concerts, shows, parties...)

you can send a Thumbs Up anonymously to other users who might wannago to this specific event.

then if they send you Thumbs Up as well - you can go together!! it makes a contact between the two of you...

the purpose of this website is to take you out to the real world..
while facebook draws you into the internet and virtual world

wannago.com takes you out-

it amplifies your social life IN REALITY!!

i hope that explains more... :)

what are you doing on New Years Eve 2008???

check out their list for that:

http://www.wannago.com/EventsSearch.aspx?type=events&tags=2008&location=

Ben D. :P

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Seni -- tying in personal accountability to group success really resonates with me. Today we often have individuals fighting with each other to see who looks smarter and "better" even inside a department -- to the detriment of projects and the organization. You have given us much to ponder here. I may come back later once others have had the chance to add their thoughts.

@Ben -- nice to meet you, virtually. And a pleasure exchanging ideas. Based in Tel Aviv, I love visitors from all over the world. I will check out Wannago.com. Somehow it seems familiar. Now off to my walk. I'll be curious to read what others think of the list you shared.

[Seni Thomas]

@Valeria,

Appreciate the kind words. The keys to providing a more collaborative working partnership are transparency and freedom of information. Performance based incentives are an added bonus. I look at monetary performance enhancers as short lived and artificial. To really promote the exchange of ideas there needs to organic trust and alignment toward a unified goal.

@Ben
Not sure you quite understood the core of what I was trying to express in this post. How does your site differentiate its self from the multitude of other event sites? Localization is a strategy, but there are very low barriers to entry.

[Francesco P.]

Ciao Valeria,
scusami se ti scrivo in italiano e se mi sono inserito in questo post, ma vado di fretta. Ho scoperto da poco tempo il tuo blog e lo trovo davvero interessante. Quest'estate ho frequentato una business school proprio alla Temple (Fox School of Business and Management) di Ph ed ora sto scrivendo un project work per il master in marketing che sto frequentando in italia. L'argomento sono i corporate blog, con particolare attenzione al settore del credito al consumo. Potrei farti delle domande (una piccola intervista) per email o in privato? Grazie mille.
Saluti,
Francesco

P.s. Complimenti davvero, fai il lavoro dei miei sogni nella città in cui ho lasciato un pezzo di cuore!

[Carolyn Ann]

Interesting idea, Valeria. :-)

You should trademark those words and phrases. They're yours, make 'em so they really are.

I like your social-development idea. Unfortunately I see a bit of a roadblock: people and their status. Managers, as a rule, hate to let "underlings" (I use the term deliberately, etc) achieve things that will eclipse the manager. That's why it's so hard to accomplish anything. I read an Information Week columnist, Bob Lewis, who has been writing a weekly column about this very topic - for years!

And, simply because you mentioned IBM, I happened to have read their latest magazine (the $55 one I don't buy, but read over a $2 cup of coffee) that describes some of the social networking problems. Lots of interesting ideas, and some real solutions, but I can't say there was any particular awareness of corporate politics. (At least it's good value at $2...)

I hope that the clerk in your story can use his social networking software to discover the relevant partners, they quit their jobs, start a business to exploit the idea, and make millions of dollars. It's the American way. :-)

Carolyn Ann

PS I always feel gung-ho about opportunity in America. :-)

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Francesco -- thank you for stopping by. For the non Italian readers: he was a student at Temple's Fox School of Business in Philadelphia this year and is majoring in marketing with a master in corporate blogging (emphasis on consumer blogs).

@Carolyn Ann -- the credit is Seni's and yes they are smart words and phrases, I concur. I am also quite sure that people will continue taking their ideas more seriously than their managers, quit their jobs, and start new ones with others from their networks. More and more, I find that I prefer to get things done to spending endless hours in meetings making sure everyone's been briefed, etc.

[Gavin Heaton]

I like your thinking, Seni. As Carolyn Ann suggests, often the biggest barriers within corporations for this type of innovative thinking/teaming is the very thing that has made the corporation successful in the past. One of the factors that is important to consider is how to play SMALL. Small projects, group collaborations and inter-disciplinary approaches can allow you to operate below the radar until you are ready to launch. This allows you to create some success before you begin to expand. And once you have success, you can gain the wider support you will need.

What you are proposing sets forth a vision -- and that is exactly the thing that can help you remain focused when you encounter the people and process blocks that inevitably spring up.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Carolyn Ann -- thank you for extending the conversation. Now that I'm reading "How to Make the Impossible Possible" I am even more motivated to seeing meaning as the inspiring act.

@Gavin -- the concept of playing it small is intriguing. Perhaps test small or build in increments and dream big. I find the need to reconcile dream with this because the thought of possibility is what ignites meaning to me.

[Seni Thomas]

@Carolyn and Gavin

Thanks for the kind words. 100% understand your points. However, what do you think about an innovation program like the 20% program at 3M and Google being amplified through a program like this. Food for thought.