I've been using Twitter for almost 3 years, well before it became what it is today. I haven't paid much attention to how its changed what I do in the social media sphere until just looking at my last posting for "The Words of Phive Tacos" blog site. I haven't posted since October. If I go back another 6 months, I haven't posted but a few times. So over a year, maybe 2-3 posts...I think I'm finally at the point where I no longer will do full blown out blog posts.
Therefore, I'm signing off from blogging and if you'd like to follow along with my microblogging, you can go to my twitter page where I'm constantly talking tech, entrepreneurship, learning, and startups.
Maybe I'll post again but for the foreseeable future, I'm out.
See you on twitter.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Off to PodCamp Boston 4...
Starting Saturday morning, the staff, audience, and organizers of PodCamp Boston will start its 4th year of educating the New England region about everything social media. (blogs, twitter, facebook, openness, collaboration...)
PodCamp Boston is an opportunity, and for an extremley low price for the experience, to learn more about the technologies, people, and ideas that foster the use of social media in your personal or business lives.
My first experience at PodCamp Boston was a few years back. It was there I learned how to be "social" using available technologies, how to communicate through blogs, and really, what social media is. This time around for me, I'm sitting from on a different side of the event. (there really aren't sides since everyone is on equal ground so as to faciliate ideas/learning)
At 11:15, members of the City of Boston, Boston World Partnerships (staff and connector) and other members of the new media community will host a session called "What is the progress of Boston 2.0". This session will discuss how Boston is helping to connect area entrepreneurs to who/what they need from Boston and/or the global community to fund, launch, or grow ideas and products. We'll also solicit ideas for what else would be needed to make these interactions, connections, happen faster?
I look forward to PodCamp Boston 4 and experiencing it in a different way as well as hearing everyone's thoughts/ideas about making the 2.0 in "Boston 2.0" mean something.
I hope to see you there.
5tacos
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Dusting off the blog...
March 6, 2009 is my last post. Just looking at the date seems like it was yesterday but it has been almost 5 months. Sheeze!!
Where have I been? Engaged is where!
Over the last almost 5 months I've had my ear to the ground, listening and identifying the actions I need to take in order to manage through the downturn. Things like:
- What are my audiences needing; how can I fulfill that?
- What do they need as they manage their downturn; how can I help them?
- What has changed on their business horizon; where do I change my product in order to get them to their new goals?
I'm obviously committed to writing about the things I see and do, but the time between posts, I felt it was more important to focus on assisting my audiences as they work through their decisions in order to leave them in a better position once this mess corrects itself...and it will!
The actions I've taken over the last 5 months are already producing the outcomes I planned for. When I see that happening, I feel less guilty about not being totally committed to "The Words of Phive Tacos".
Now that I see the road clearer, I'm hopping back into the mix, which is good, seeing all of the good things happening around the globe with technology.
- The State of Wireless Broadband: 225M Subscribers & Growing (http://tinyurl.com/nnt3kn)
- Who can access 3G/4G services in 2013? (http://tinyurl.com/l6pveo)
- How people share content on the web? (http://tinyurl.com/lpjbmn)
- Google Says Mobile App Stores Have No Future (http://tinyurl.com/lfo4va)
Just so much to start talking about again. I'm looking forward to it.
5tacos
Friday, March 6, 2009
Better days ahead...
Almost 3.5 years ago I started following a woman named Carlota Perez. She’s a senior research fellow at the Cambridge Endowment for Research in Finance at Cambridge University, and author of Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital, a book she wrote to discuss financial cycles in technological revolutions.
Let me digress for a second and I’ll come back to Carlota.
I watch a lot of different things, but the assignment of our country’s first Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, is the most compelling indicator that the next generation is upon us. If you don’t take the time to read about Vivek, just keep this in mind…he’s all digital, and should he not blow the opportunity as Obama’s CIO, he will have at least 4 years (if not 8) to reshape the way our country operates using IP technologies.
Other present day indicators: (linked to articles)
Reid Hoffman – CEO of LinkedIn
“I actually think every individual is now an entrepreneur, whether they recognize it or not.”
Adeo Ressi – Founder of TheFunded.com
“wants to do his part to help jump start the economy with fresh ideas and leaders.”
The Big Shift: Constant Disruption
“If this premise is right--that the pattern of disruption followed by stabilization has itself been disrupted--then it may be we're facing the mother of all disruptions, a big shift into a world without equilibrium, one that will continue to shift rapidly even once the current recession has passed”.
Back to Carlota:
She answers two questions in her 2005 Strategy + Business interview that I feel shed more light into the environment we are in now and what’s to come:
S+B: On the airplane here, I read two articles about the future. One predicted economic clear sailing and the other foresaw crisis and collapse.
Perez: They’re probably both right. We may well have a jolt or two in the near future, and then a great boom probably lies ahead. But the Nasdaq collapse of 2000 was not big enough to force the changes necessary to get there.
S+B: For people who lost their retirement savings, that’s a difficult statement to hear.
Perez: I couldn’t agree more, but that’s the price we’ve historically paid for our ability to reach great booms. The collapse has to be disastrous enough to make it clear to everyone that the time when the stock market drives the growth of the economy is finished. Finance capital has done its job; it’s brought forth the resources to pave the way for the next wave of technology. Along the way, it’s created an environment in which companies like Microsoft, Intel, and Google could emerge and flourish. Now we need to spread out the new paradigm of our era through all the economies of the world, just as in the past.
Our country is calling for more innovation, business leaders are helping by creating avenues to product creation, the world is in a major shift, and a long wave theorist (with credibility) is saying this is really the beginning and not the end.
When I read items like this, it doesn’t tell me we’re done, it tells me we should be taking advantage of this opportunity by creating new products, opening lines of communications, creating more value with existing products, and driving more innovation into our customer businesses.
This is how we navigate this pullback and ready ourselves for better days.
Ben
Let me digress for a second and I’ll come back to Carlota.
I watch a lot of different things, but the assignment of our country’s first Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, is the most compelling indicator that the next generation is upon us. If you don’t take the time to read about Vivek, just keep this in mind…he’s all digital, and should he not blow the opportunity as Obama’s CIO, he will have at least 4 years (if not 8) to reshape the way our country operates using IP technologies.
Other present day indicators: (linked to articles)
Reid Hoffman – CEO of LinkedIn
“I actually think every individual is now an entrepreneur, whether they recognize it or not.”
Adeo Ressi – Founder of TheFunded.com
“wants to do his part to help jump start the economy with fresh ideas and leaders.”
The Big Shift: Constant Disruption
“If this premise is right--that the pattern of disruption followed by stabilization has itself been disrupted--then it may be we're facing the mother of all disruptions, a big shift into a world without equilibrium, one that will continue to shift rapidly even once the current recession has passed”.
Back to Carlota:
She answers two questions in her 2005 Strategy + Business interview that I feel shed more light into the environment we are in now and what’s to come:
S+B: On the airplane here, I read two articles about the future. One predicted economic clear sailing and the other foresaw crisis and collapse.
Perez: They’re probably both right. We may well have a jolt or two in the near future, and then a great boom probably lies ahead. But the Nasdaq collapse of 2000 was not big enough to force the changes necessary to get there.
S+B: For people who lost their retirement savings, that’s a difficult statement to hear.
Perez: I couldn’t agree more, but that’s the price we’ve historically paid for our ability to reach great booms. The collapse has to be disastrous enough to make it clear to everyone that the time when the stock market drives the growth of the economy is finished. Finance capital has done its job; it’s brought forth the resources to pave the way for the next wave of technology. Along the way, it’s created an environment in which companies like Microsoft, Intel, and Google could emerge and flourish. Now we need to spread out the new paradigm of our era through all the economies of the world, just as in the past.
Our country is calling for more innovation, business leaders are helping by creating avenues to product creation, the world is in a major shift, and a long wave theorist (with credibility) is saying this is really the beginning and not the end.
When I read items like this, it doesn’t tell me we’re done, it tells me we should be taking advantage of this opportunity by creating new products, opening lines of communications, creating more value with existing products, and driving more innovation into our customer businesses.
This is how we navigate this pullback and ready ourselves for better days.
Ben
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Social Network is more than just "Connecting"...
Social Networking is more than Facebook, MySpace, Ning, LinkedIn and any others. They are considered tools in helping people connect with each other.
Social Networking was destined for the enterprise and Groundswell just reported how far into the enterprise it goes. Here are some quick facts:
* 91% of these technology decision-makers were Spectators -- the highest number I've ever seen in a Social Technographics Profile. This means you can count on the fact that your buyers are reading blogs, watching user generated video, and participating in other social media. Note that 69% of them said they were using this technology for business purposes.
* Only 5% are non-participants (Inactives).
* 55% of these decision-makers were in social networks (Joiners) -- despite as mature businesspeople and not college students, you'd think they'd be participating a lot less.
* 43% are creating media (blogs, uploading videos or articles, etc.) and 58% are Critics, reacting to content they see in social formats. Again the numbers are very high compared to other groups we've surveyed, and again the level of participation for business purposes is also very high.
Its not only finding its way into the enterprise; its becoming a standard in the overall buying process.
The part I like most about the report is when it says, "If you're a B2B marketer and you're not using social technologies in your marketing, it means you're late". Not "you still have time" but "LATE". The last thing you want is your company & products to be late to the game. Not taking a stance now will only leave you like Microsoft, who pushed out the Zune years after the iPod, only to see it slowly dwindle away.
Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption said it best, "Get busy living or get busy dying" or "Get busy being social or get out of the game".Ben
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Realization Through Learning
I pulled this together over the last couple of weeks. Little here and a little there.
I wanted to get it posted before this week since I'm taking time off. The slideware is me offering my thought on the importance of learning and communities in product creation. Just had a thought and figured I throw something together.
Hope you see what I see.
Ben
I wanted to get it posted before this week since I'm taking time off. The slideware is me offering my thought on the importance of learning and communities in product creation. Just had a thought and figured I throw something together.
Hope you see what I see.
Ben
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Thank you Mr. Ortega...
A couple of weeks ago I went to meet with my son’s class to talk about “Circuits, Switches, and Everyday Communications”. Here is the presentation if you’re interested. What a great time I had watching them LEARN about our topic.
Now remember, these are 9-10 year olds, so their understanding of communications and telephony is nothing like ours. We get most of it and understand how we got to these points in technology but they don’t fully know. They don’t know what internet dial up was, or what Crocket held to his ear, and most importantly what is in front of them.
What they do know is the DSL or higher internet experience, cell phone availability, wireless internet connectivity, and even Facebook. Yeah, one of them mentioned it as a form of communication which is what Jeff Pulver is arguing is a growing market right now at the SocComm meetup in NY.
The kids knew that these technologies were around them but they didn’t know how delivery was accomplished and as I started to dive into how the fundamentals of an electrical circuit and switch have led us to where we are today; their mouths dropped. They couldn’t believe it. The same thing happened to me about 9 years ago when I first learned how packet based voice works. I couldn’t believe it was done so fast.
Of everything we talked about, my highlight was when one of the kids said, “American Telephone & Telegraph is AT&T…now I get it”. It was so cool to see it come together and I think I was having more fun than them.
So as much as they’ve said “thank you” to me…I have to tell them, THANK YOU!
I can’t wait for our next session.
Ben
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)