By Linda Forrest
Earlier this week, TechCrunch readers were given a rare treat – the chance to engage in a public forum with a technology icon: Sean Parker. One of the founders of Napster, founder at Plaxo, a former advisor to and the first president of Facebook (who bears little physical resemblance to Justin Timberlake who played an, according to Parker, historically-inaccurate, party animal version of him in last year’s Oscar-nominated film, The Social Network), and now director at Spotify. In short, Sean Parker has been an architect of many of the “large-scale societal shifts” of the last 15 years.
So, it was with great interest that I clicked on (and subsequently retweeted) the following Tweet:
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By Alexandra Reid
I sat down with Delaney Turner, IBM’s social business strategist, editor and engagement lead, to expand on some of the subjects he presented to the Social Media Breakfast Ottawa crowd yesterday morning.
According to Turner, our world is becoming smarter as it becomes more interconnected. Businesses must acknowledge that social media is at least partly responsible for bridging new connections and adapt their communications strategies to utilize these new channels to their best effect.
Turner said IBM employees are encouraged to participate on social media channels on behalf of the company, and take personal responsibility for their work. “Social media is like the phone,” said Turner. “Rather than restrict access, we’re going to treat people like adults and trust that they’re going to use it right for business.”
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By Alexandra Reid
We have used the term “champion” many times on this blog to describe those risk-inclined individuals who become the essential drivers of progressive change within the commercialization ecosystem. Champions can wear many hats. We have described them as mentors, investors and, perhaps most importantly, advocates who take that leap of faith and make doors open at that critical juncture to snatch success from the jaws of failure.
In the process of creating and executing a social media marketing strategy to help bring technology to market, champions fall into two distinct categories:
- External champions of your technology who can be found, engaged and developed through social media.
- Internal champions of social media who advocate new tools and embrace enterprising tactics that allow their businesses to successfully compete within the social space.
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Thank you for being with us for the eighth month of our new blog. In case you missed them, here is a recap of our posts from September.
Last month, we concluded our Commercialization Ecosystem series and launched two new series, Technology Marketing 101, which features anecdotal stories about how a successful marketing program was developed, executed and measured, and A Startup’s Story, which will explore individual startups as they work to bring their technology to market. We welcome your feedback.
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By Alexandra Reid
Mark Zuckerberg rocked the Facebook boat again last week when he introduced a handful of new features that received mixed reactions from the site’s 750 million users.
From expressions of excitement to confusion to outright hatred on blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, as well as mainstream media such as the BBC, it’s clear that Facebook users have become increasingly more vocal with their opinions of the free site. This PCWorld article reveals a number of immediate user reactions to Facebook’s new features, from the blunt and judgmental, “Sucks,” to the pessimistically speculative, “Wonder what is going to replace Facebook,” which suggests that these new features may be just the provocation Google Plus needed to transition users to its platform. But then again, who’s to say Google won’t turn the product in radical new directions in another year, as The Guardian’s Dan Gillmor asked in his intriguing post. It isn’t all bad though, as one individual, who was featured on MacWorld, tweeted “It’s the ‘Facebook cycle’ – things change, people complain, they get over it and carry on.”
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