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Should companies police employee use of social media?

A pertinent question was asked by a member of the LinkedIn community. Should companies police employee use of LinkedIn? The question strikes at the heart of how many companies are still struggling to understand social media and its impact inside and outside the organisation. There are a few considerations.

1. Is social media an effective way to engage customers and employees?

2. Are companies better off regulating or educating their employees about the use of social media?

In my opinion, regulating the use of social media is not only futile, it's counter-productive. If your company has disengaged employees or unhappy customers there are probably wider issues to worry about than whether they are venting their frustration on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Social media is an effective way to conduct conversations with your companies constituents in a context meaningful to them. Who knows, it might actually help achieve some business objectives along the way.

Into the Twittersphere

There are quite a few Twitter parodies floating around. None as funny as this. Enjoy!

Personal computing and productivity in your pocket

There is no doubt the iPhone is overhyped for what it is. It's battery life stinks,  its overpriced, the touchscreen keyboard ho-hum and is a fingerprint magnet. With all its reported flaws and after sticking to my trusty Blackberry Curve I decided to make the leap  of faith, pay my Apple tax and enter the world of the iPhone 3G. My initial thoughts were as expected.  Slick design, 3G speeds, email, contacts were all there, and the integration with iTunes very handy. As I used the device however, it struck me - the capabilities of this phone covered 80% of my personal computing needs. The browser highly useable for all but the most data entry intensive applications. Youtube, on-tap. Apps from productivity to frivolity. GPS, maps, Facebook, Twitter all here. It's always been my view that netbooks would actually help drive desktop sales at the expense of laptops as individuals purchase a desktop for their homebase and a netbook for their wireless needs. The iPhone has blown that theory out of the water. For all its drawbacks it has redefined the boundaries of what is possible on a mobile device and put productivity in my pocket. That netbook purchase will have to wait.

Cloud Computing Threat to IT

Cloud Computing is not a panacea. It simply removes certain aspects of technology which are commoditized and focuses IT efforts further up the value chain. This will require re-education and reskilling but nonetheless presents an opportunity for those that are willing to evolve. One could argue technology no longer provides competitive advantage in the  one-size fits all, multi-tenant approach of Cloud Computing. You can implement Google Apps or Salesforce which is the same out of the box for everyone, but the  differentiation provided by IT will be through integration, analysis and extension of the cloud platform to provide value within your business. This requires IT skills, different types of IT skills but IT skills nonetheless. I can see how traditional IT service providers and VARs may start to feel nervous. They must also evolve their offering to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the new paradigm. Appirio is a great example of a next generation IT integrator who has done just that.

“Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.” -  William Pollard

5 reasons why Google will acquire Twitter

There is no doubt that Google will acquire Twitter. Aside from the fact that only a handful of buyers are in a position to make this acquisition commercially, none is more suited than Google strategically.

1. Search - During the earthquake tremors in Melbourne I went straight to Twitter search for real-time updates not google.com. Fancy search algorithms aside, Twitter's real-time search is the best thing in search since....... Google.

2. Apps - Google's burgeoning apps offering would benefit greatly from a enterprise version of Twitter (as Gmail did). This feature is a no brainer and Google will probably acquire Yammer if it doesn't grab Twitter.

3. FriendConnect - Facebook Connect has proved a formidible opponent to Google's more open approach to social graph portability. Twitter users can already join Friendconnect enabled sites and Twitter profiles would merge with or supercede the underwhelming Google profiles.

4. Capability - Google is the leader in building and scaling internet infrastructure full stop - their grid platform a key competitive advantage. Anyone who has experienced the Twitter fail whale would know that Twitter would benefit  from this capability and needs it in order to reach critical mass. Twitter is the leader in micro-blogging, an area which is exploding in popularity but which Google has little or no presence.

5. Openness - Google's culture of openness and accessibility is directly aligned with Twitter's approach to their API. The possibilities to marry this with App Engine and  Google's ever increasing suite of open APIs is delicious.

What are your thoughts? Will Google acquire Twitter? Will Twitter go it alone? Will antitrust concerns foil their union? Or will another player emerge to snap up the hottest property on the Internet in 2009.

Twitter providing value in the workplace #businessproductivity

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams articulated the vision and evolution of Twitter at TED. Twitter is now reaching critical mass and has become a key aspect of any social media marketing strategy but it has never presented itself as a business productivity tool. Now consider the case of a large national retailer. Armed with mobile devices, your salesforce could simply Twitter a request for a price check, product info or availability to obtain real time updates in a way that requires no training, complex integration or expensive infrastructure. We have just begun to scratch the surface on using Twitter and its enterprise incarnations (Yammer, Identi.ca) to realise real business benefits. What are your business use cases for Twitter?